Meeting kids where they are: building age-appropriate substance use careand prevention in north texas - the north texas behavioral health authority (NTBHA) requests funding to expand capacity to a…

The Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration awarded $475,812 to the North Texas Behavioral Health Authority on September 30, 2026, under the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment Projects of Regional and National Significance program (CFDA 93.490).

The North Texas Behavioral Health Authority will expand capacity for substance use disorder and co-occurring disorder treatment and prevention services for children, adolescents, and young adults across Dallas, Ellis, Hunt, Kaufman, Navarro, and Rockwall Counties in Texas. Homeward Bound, Inc., NTBHA's designated SUD treatment provider, will deliver services alongside structural partners Child and Family Guidance Center and Southern Area Behavioral Healthcare Services. The project implements CRAFFT 2.1+N screening, extended buprenorphine-naloxone medication for opioid and alcohol use disorder, a developmentally adapted outpatient SUD/COD treatment model, Rainbow Days' evidence-informed curriculum-based support group prevention program, case management, and peer recovery support. The project will serve no fewer than 30 unduplicated individuals in year one and no fewer than 80 unduplicated individuals in each subsequent project year, totaling no fewer than 350 unduplicated individuals across the five-year period. Services are split evenly between adolescent outpatient SUD/COD treatment for ages 12–17 and prevention education for ages 11 and under, with young adults ages 18–25 served through the adolescent outpatient treatment track. The period of performance runs through September 29, 2031, with place of performance in Dallas, Texas.

Meeting kids where they are: building age-appropriate substance use careand prevention in north texas - the north texas behavioral health authority (NTBHA) requests funding to expand capacity to a full continuum of substance use disorder and CO-occurring disorder treatment and prevention services for children, adolescents, and young adults across its six-county north texas region, extending its existing certified community behavioral health clinic's care to a developmentally appropriate standard for younger populations. Homeward bound, INC., NTBHA's designated SUD treatment provider, will deliver this project's services alongside structural partners child and family guidance center (CFGC) and southern area behavioral healthcare services (SABH). NTBHA serves a six-county catchment area of dallas, ellis, hunt, kaufman, navarro, and rockwall counties, texas, with a population of approximately 3.3 million residents. This project will serve no fewer than 30 unduplicated individuals in year 1 and no fewer than 80 unduplicated individuals in each subsequent project year, totaling no fewer than 350 unduplicated individuals across the five-year project period, split evenly between adolescent outpatient SUD/COD treatment (ages 12-17) and children's prevention education (ages 11 and under), with young adults (ages 18-25) served through the adolescent outpatient treatment track. The population planned to be served presents with substance use disorders and/or CO-occurring substance use and mental disorders (COD), including opioid use disorder, amid rising fentanyl-driven adolescent overdose mortality in NTBHA's catchment area. This project will implement crafft 2.1+N screening, extended buprenorphine-naloxone medication for opioid and alcohol use disorder (MOUD/MAUD), a developmentally adapted outpatient SUD/COD treatment model, rainbow days' evidence-informed curriculum-based support group prevention program, case management, and peer recovery support, delivered through homeward bound's existing ccbhc infrastructure under a no wrong door model with CFGC and SABH. Treatment and prevention services are patient-centered and gender-responsive, and are paired with brief counseling to reduce risky drinking among young adults and families and with overdose prevention education and naloxone access coordinated through NTBHA's existing outreach and community health worker programs. This project's goal is to build a full continuum of SUD/COD care for children, adolescents, and young adults on homeward bound's existing ccbhc clinical infrastructure, extending protocols that currently serve adults to a developmentally appropriate standard of care for younger populations. This project has three measurable objectives: (1) enroll no fewer than 30 unduplicated children, adolescents, and young adults in year 1, and no fewer than 80 unduplicated children, adolescents, and young adults in each subsequent project year; (2) establish adolescent-specific MOUD/MAUD prescribing, consent, and confidentiality protocols within the four-month service-start window required by this nofo; and (3) formalize project-specific referral and coordination agreements with partner agencies within four months of award.