This article mentions suicide. If you’ve experienced thoughts of suicide, confidential help is available for free through the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling 988 in the United States. You can find more information at 988lifeline.org. Additional resources can be found at Mental Health America.
Gov. Josh Shapiro touted new funding for mental health programs in Pennsylvania’s budget as a major achievement, including the $15 million boost among his administration’s 18 budget wins.
The state’s budget allocated $10 million for the 988 crisis hotline, which serves as a lifeline geared toward suicide prevention and helping callers in need access critical treatment services.
There were 1,845 deaths by suicide in 2024 in Pennsylvania, according to USAFacts. That is down from the 1,955 in 2022.
In 2025, the state’s 14 crisis call centers handled more than 145,000 calls.
Another $5 million goes to the state’s emergency behavioral health walk-in centers, which offer immediate and specialized care for anyone experiencing a mental health crisis. Like 988, the centers are designed to prevent people in crisis from going to emergency rooms or jail, according to officials with the state’s Department of Human Services.
The department licenses 82 of these facilities across the state. They are operated by counties or private providers. Medical staff are available around the clock so individuals can be prescribed medication if necessary.
Barriers to access
In some cases, someone in crisis could have to drive an hour or more to access a walk-in center.
If split evenly 82 ways, the allocation would give each facility almost $61,000.
“It’s an expensive service,” Miki Drutchal, administrator for the Lackawanna-Susquehanna Counties Behavioral Health programs, told USA TODAY Network Pennsylvania. “It’s a vital service. We’re just not able to make some of these ends meet.”
County human services agencies, along with service providers, are essentially on-the-ground operations dealing with Pennsylvania’s mental health needs. Counties receive millions in state and federal funding each year to meet demand.
Federal cuts to Medicaid and Medicare are estimated to result in hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians losing their plans by 2027, leaving vulnerable people who rely on critical care services uninsured.
“We’re the people who will pick that up, especially (people) in crises,” Drutchal said. “It’s counties that will see those impacts.”
How much money is enough?
The additional funding in the 2026-27 budget is meant to help mental health patients across the state, and it will, Drutchal acknowledged.
Across the board, state funding for mental health programs and services increased $41.2 million since last year, bringing the total allocation to $979.8 million. That includes investments in school programs.
The $15 million boost is not nothing, although it is marginal considering the public need for treatment and services.
“We’re already having conversations with providers,” Drutchal said. “We can’t do any kind of increases. We’re stagnated. Their costs are increasing ― personnel, insurance costs, benefit costs are all going up. Our revenue is not.”
In Shapiro’s first year as governor, 2023, the administration launched the Behavioral Health Council so state and local leaders along with providers could develop a statewide action plan to address mental health challenges.
“Council members will develop specific recommendations to decrease the wait time for care or services for individuals with mental health illness or substance use disorder,” according to the release that included quotes from officials across several state agencies.
Since 2023, nearly 800 schools have expanded mental health services and support for students.
The new budget also includes an additional $12 million for rape crisis centers around the state, what Shapiro’s administration called “the largest increase in Pennsylvania history.” It brings the total allocation for the centers to $24.2 million.
If not money, then what?
Scott Baldwin remembers the 1970s-era human services block grant funding from the state.
Lawrence County received around $200,000, Baldwin, an administrator for the county’s mental health services, told USA TODAY Network Pennsylvania. Now, the western Pennsylvania county gets around $11 million.
“Is mental health better than it was in the ’70s?” Baldwin posed. He acknowledged the semantics and societal changes surrounding his inquiry. “Is (money) going to answer our problem?”
Baldwin pointed to social media, which he said gets into kids’ hands when they are too young. He supported the state’s cellphone ban in schools, which he said is a good start.
Extra money in his agency’s budget could make a difference, Baldwin said. It can create more programs and enhance services.
But the future of mental health is more of a people issue than a funding one, he maintained.
Baldwin pointed to the nationwide peer support group Alcoholics Anonymous as an example of how merely connecting with a person who has a shared struggle and experience navigating it can help others.
“Our clinics are full of people in line needing medication,” Baldwin said. “That’s an answer to eliminate symptoms, but true recovery starts with change. What we need are changes in people’s lives. People partnering with people in the community who know what to do. You can do that without a penny.”
