CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Governor Mark Gordon announced the launch of his new, “Mental Health Roadmap,” initiative to address the state’s ongoing mental health crisis.
According to Governor’s Office, the roadmap will address community mental health center reform, suicide prevention, criminal justice reform and workforce development in Wyoming.
The strategy of this mental health reform is to build and expand upon existing programs, including the Mental Health Diversion Court Pilot Project, the Wyoming Innovation Partnership’s healthcare workforce development efforts and Veterans Talking to Veterans, according to the Governor’s Office.
The initiative outlines five pillars:
- Access to Care — Ensuring residents have access to the continuum of behavioral health services
- Affordability of Care — Ensuring cost is not a barrier to accessing services in Wyoming
- Quality of Care — Delivering the highest quality of service based on best practices and evidence-based research
- Innovation— Constantly thinking of ways to improve our system based on new research and information
- Suicide Prevention and Anti-Stigma efforts
“The community engagement that we’ve had, including the recent mental health town halls, along with the work of the legislative and judicial branches have led us to identify our priorities and our most significant challenges,” Governor Gordon said via press release. “We know how critical it is to Wyoming’s future to address the mental healthcare needs of our residents.”
The Governor’s budget proposes full funding for the Wyoming 988 suicide prevention hotline, along with the addition of text and chat services. In 2022, Governor Gordon supported Wyoming’s switch to a simplified suicide hotline phone number, which grew out of the National Suicide Prevention Line.
The budget also supports the redesign of community behavioral health services, funding for pediatric virtual mental health services and funding for mobile crisis services to support first responders when they respond to behavioral health crises.
A copy of the Mental Health Roadmap may be found here.
