Lifeskills Inc.

Lifeskills Inc., a Kentucky-based nonprofit tax-exempt corporation headquartered in Bowling Green, acts as a prime recipient of federal grants from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and as a sub-recipient across multiple health and housing grant programs, delivering community behavioral health services, crisis intervention, and supportive housing assistance to 18 counties in south-central and western Kentucky.

Lifeskills operates as a certified community behavioral health clinic (CCBHC) and 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline Network member. The organization's service delivery combines crisis center operations, integrated physical and behavioral health care coordination, medication-assisted treatment, evidence-based outpatient mental health and substance use disorder services, and permanent supportive housing with case management for homeless populations. The nonprofit has a named subsidiary, Pennyroyal Regional Mental Health-Mental Retardation Board, Inc., also a nonprofit organization.

Lifeskills holds two active prime federal grants from SAMHSA's Center for Mental Health Services. The most recent, a $250,000 project grant awarded September 30, 2026, funds the Crisis Center Follow-Up Improvement Project through September 29, 2029 (CFDA 93.00R, 988 and Behavioral Health Crisis Services Programs). This effort expands structured follow-up services beginning within 24 hours of referral and continuing for a minimum of 90 days and up to 12 months for individuals contacting the 988 lifeline or experiencing behavioral health crises across the 18-county service area, targeting reductions in suicide, overdose deaths, and repeat crisis episodes. A prior SAMHSA prime grant awarded September 30, 2022, for the Lifeskills CCBHC integration project focused on building capacity for coordinated physical and behavioral health care with enhanced health information technology systems and completed September 29, 2026.

Lifeskills operates predominantly as a sub-recipient, with 92 percent of its recent federal award portfolio flowing through sub-awards. The Kentucky Cabinet for Health Services is the prime grantee on the vast majority of these sub-awards, which span behavioral health capacity and infrastructure programs including the Kentucky Integrated Care (PIPBHC), Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant (SAPT), 988 Capacity Expansion, Kentucky Strategic Suicide Prevention Project (KYSSPP), Kentucky Initiative for Zero Suicides eXpansion (KIZS-X), Kentucky Opioid Response Effort (KORE), Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homeless (PATH), and Kentucky Strategic Allies Fostering Empowerment of Today's Youth (KY SAFETY). Lifeskills also receives housing-related sub-awards as a sub-recipient from Kentucky Housing Corporation, delivering tenant-based rental assistance, permanent supportive housing, security deposits, and utility assistance to homeless adults with serious mental illness, chronic substance use disorders, or dual diagnoses across the same 18-county Barren River Area District. A HOME ARPA sub-award for affordable housing support was awarded March 7, 2025.

Award activity has accelerated significantly in recent years—from one award in 2022 to 36 in 2024, with 30 awards in 2025 and 13 through September 2026. The combined obligated dollars across all awards reach $33.8 million against a combined potential value of $9 thousand, reflecting the source's notation of exceptional ratio variance. Customer concentration sits with SAMHSA and its sub-office the Center for Mental Health Services, which accounts for 77 of 87 awards in the concentration block (87% of total awards). The Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Housing and Urban Development Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development, and the Department of Health and Human Services round out the customer base, each with five awards. Lifeskills has served seven distinct customer agencies across the source dataset.