Southwest Guidance Center

Southwest Guidance Center, a nonprofit community mental health center based in Liberal, Kansas, operates as a federal grant recipient delivering rural behavioral health services to four counties in southwest Kansas, with the vast majority of recent federal activity (75%) routed through sub-awards from the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services rather than direct federal primes.

Southwest Guidance Center is a tax-exempt nonprofit organization and the primary behavioral health services provider across a 2,924 square-mile frontier/rural catchment area with a combined population of 34,730, of which 51% identify as Hispanic-Latinx and 47% speak a language other than English at home. The center serves any adult, adolescent, or child regardless of diagnosis or ability to pay, with documented intake activity since 2019 showing 2,444 completed intakes (67% Hispanic individuals, 2% veterans). Southwest Guidance Center delivers crisis mental health services, screening and assessment, evidence-based outpatient mental health and substance use disorder treatment, targeted case management, psychiatric rehabilitation, peer support and family supports, and health indicator monitoring, with particular focus on reducing barriers to care for Hispanic and veteran populations within its service area.

The vendor's federal award footprint centers on SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) programs. Southwest Guidance Center holds one direct prime grant: a Project Grant from SAMHSA's Center for Mental Health Services awarded September 30, 2022, running through September 29, 2026, to establish Certified Community Behavioral Health Center (CCBHC) status and expand substance use disorder and co-occurring disorder services to reach 1,155 individuals over four years. Southwest Guidance Center also receives three sub-awards from the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services under SAMHSA Mental Health and Substance Abuse Block Grants: an October 2024 Individual Placement and Support (IPS) evidence-based employment program award, a July 2024 state aid authorization under K.S.A. 65-4434, and a March 2023 supportive housing expansion award targeting adults with serious mental illness and substance use disorders at risk of state institution placement or exiting detoxification and residential care.

Combined federal dollars obligated across all four awards total $21.8 million. One award (the direct SAMHSA prime grant) faces ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, creating immediate recompete exposure. The vendor has received federal awards in two consecutive years (2022 and 2023) followed by two in 2024, reflecting steady engagement with SAMHSA and the Kansas state mental health system.