University of Arkansas Awarded $10M for State Crisis Hub

Johanna Thomas is the director of the School of Social Work at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. (Photo provided)

A University of Arkansas team has been awarded $10 million by the Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS) to create and implement a centralized Crisis Hub and Crisis Continuum for the state of Arkansas that will serve Arkansans with behavioral health needs.

The team is led by the university’s School of Social Work Director Johanna Thomas, who has more than a decade of experience implementing, deploying and evaluating the effectiveness of behavioral health programs across Arkansas and the United States.

“Currently, Arkansas does not have a coordinated statewide system of crisis care to address behavioral health needs for children and adults to this extent,” Thomas said in a press release from the university. “What we’re creating together begins with prevention and early intervention, and then focuses on crisis intervention and guidance to follow up with treatment available for those who need it.”

Thomas will lead a team of experts from across the U of A’s Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, to include Mark Plassmeyer from the School of Social Work, and Shaun Thomas, Mindy Bradley and Kayla Allison from the Department of Sociology and Criminology.

The team will partner with DHS to coordinate the program, determine subgrants and implement the department’s plan for statewide prevention, early intervention and crisis services.

The plan will have an emphasis on infant mental health, school-based behavioral health, and mental health and substance abuse treatment for adults, with a focus on pregnant and postpartum women.

In collaboration with DHS, local schools, community stakeholders and partner agencies, Thomas and her team will then also design a unified crisis hub model for the state.

Seven areas of the state will serve as pilot sites for the crisis care continuum.

“Mental health and addiction are statewide issues — so our response has to be statewide too,” Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in the release. “Through programs like the new crisis hub, we can address both adults’ and children’s needs early and often. These challenges aren’t unique to Arkansas, but we do have a unique opportunity to address them collaboratively to prevent and treat all Arkansans.”