COVID-19 Mental Health Services Extended Through June

Grant will fund counseling through June for grief, financial anxiety, other concerns caused by pandemic. 

A federal grant will extend a program to help Wisconsinites cope with mental health issues during COVID-19 through June.

The $3.9 million grant was from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration will go to Project Recovery, which was launched last June through a previous federal grant to provide free services during the pandemic and teach  healthy coping techniques. 

The program has so far been limited to residents of Brown, Dane, Kenosha, Milwaukee, Racine, Rock, and Walworth counties. With the additional funding it will expand to Jefferson and Waukesha counties and farmers statewide.

“Many people have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic,” said DHS Deputy Secretary Julie Willems Van Dijk. “There are a lot of challenges right now—mourning the loss of a loved one, personal financial stress, feelings of hopelessness—we want people to know that it’s OK to not feel OK right now and that help is available.”

From June through October, Project Recovery, which is run by Wisconsin Community Action Program Association under DHS,  helped 2,027 people. 

From May through September, DHS distributed close to $2.4 million to 38 counties and one tribal nation to support local behavioral health services. These grants were funded through Wisconsin’s share of two annual block grants from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration: the Community Mental Health Services Block Grant and the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant.

To request help from Project Recovery, call 211 and ask to be connected to Project Recovery or visit their website.