Horizon Behavioral Health

Horizon Behavioral Health, a U.S. local government entity headquartered in Lynchburg, Virginia, is a federal grant recipient providing evidence-based behavioral health services — substance use disorder treatment, mental health crisis response, early psychosis intervention, and recovery support — to underserved and justice-involved populations across Central Virginia as a prime grantee (85% of recent awards) and as a sub-recipient on state-administered substance use and social services grants.

Horizon's federal footprint is concentrated in SAMHSA grant programs. The Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) accounts for 13 of the 20 total awards in the source data, spanning the Center for Mental Health Services, the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, and related divisions. The Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Assistance and the Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention round out the customer set, each with two awards. Recent prime grant work includes a $2 million award from SAMHSA's Center for Mental Health Services (CFDA 93.104) to implement Stronger Together, a comprehensive system of care for children, youth, and young adults ages 5–21 with serious emotional disturbance across Central Virginia, running through September 2030; a $428,000 SAMHSA grant (CFDA 93.104) for Pathways to Possibility, an early psychosis prevention program targeting adolescents and young adults ages 15–25 in rural Central Virginia; a $1.5 million SAMHSA grant (CFDA 93.243) for the Appomattox Recovery Initiative, delivering substance use disorder and co-occurring disorder services to 185 underserved adults and transitional-aged youth over three years; a $550,000 Bureau of Justice Assistance award (CFDA 16.745) to expand a co-response model between Horizon's Crisis Receiving Center and the Lynchburg Police Department; and a SAMHSA grant to expand the Lynchburg Adult Drug Court to serve an additional 20 unduplicated individuals per year. Horizon also received a Rural Health Care Services Outreach Grant from the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (CFDA 64.010) in August 2025 to enhance behavioral health services in rural Campbell and Appomattox Counties. In its sub-recipient role, Horizon receives flow-through funding from the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health & Developmental Services and the Virginia Department of Social Services, including AmeriCorps State Formula funding (2024–2025).

Horizon's capability portfolio centers on trauma-informed, evidence-based interventions including trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy, multisystemic therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy for psychosis, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, the Community Reinforcement Approach, Moral Reconation Therapy, Illness Management and Recovery, Assertive Community Treatment, and high-fidelity wraparound services. Work is performed in Lynchburg, Virginia and subordinate rural counties (Amherst, Appomattox, Bedford, and Campbell) designated as mental health professional shortage areas. Three awards are scheduled to reach ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, representing potential recompete exposure. Activity across the past five years shows growth from one award in 2022 to four in 2026, reflecting expanding federal investment in Horizon's regional mental health and substance use infrastructure.