ALLENTOWN, Pa. \u2014 Gov. Josh Shapiro on Friday highlighted new investments in mental health services included in Pennsylvania’s 2026-27 budget during a visit to the Lehigh County Crisis Intervention Center, saying the funding will expand access to crisis care and strengthen behavioral health services across the Commonwealth.<\/p>\n
The budget includes $10 million in the first dedicated state funding for 988, the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, following three consecutive years of state investments in student and community mental health.<\/p>\n
It also provides $5 million for walk-in behavioral health crisis stabilization centers, with priority given to communities that have limited access to immediate in-person care.<\/p>\n
“We’re investing in county mental health services,” Shapiro said.<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania Department of Human Services Secretary Val Arkoosh said the goal is to ensure people across the state can quickly access help during a mental health emergency.<\/p>\n
“We just want to make sure that no matter where you live in the Commonwealth, if you have a crisis, you can call 988,” Arkoosh said.<\/p>\n
The new funding will allow the Department of Human Services to double the number of 988 centers that respond to chat and text messages from three to six.<\/p>\n
It also will help counties allow 911 operators to make a warm handoff to 988 when someone is experiencing a mental health crisis and ensure every 988 center in Pennsylvania can provide around-the-clock coverage.<\/p>\n
Shapiro also pointed to ongoing efforts to improve mental health insurance coverage in the state.<\/p>\n
“We will not approve a health insurance plan in our commonwealth unless it has real mental health parity,” Shapiro said.<\/p>\n
Craig Taylor, a Lehigh County 988 crisis counselor, said the state’s continued investment is already having an impact.<\/p>\n
“We thank you for your continued dedication to mental health initiatives like this one because it is making a difference,” Taylor said.<\/p>\n
Shapiro said increasing public awareness, particularly among younger people, is helping reduce the stigma surrounding mental health.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ALLENTOWN, Pa. \u2014 Gov. Josh Shapiro on Friday highlighted new investments in mental health services included in Pennsylvania’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":256875,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[214,119,121,120,232,433,805],"class_list":["post-256874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-_homepage_top_stories","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-news","tag-allentown-area","tag-lehigh-county","tag-lehighvalley"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}