The Mental Health Emergency Needs in Disasters Act would expand federal disaster relief services to include mental health support for people affected by major disasters. The bill authorizes the Federal Emergency Management Agency to deploy mobile mental health crisis units staffed with trained, licensed counselors to disaster areas for up to two years following a major disaster, providing services like crisis counseling and treatment for trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder. It also establishes a grant program allowing states and Native American tribal governments to fund behavioral health services, screening, and crisis support within a two-year window after a disaster, with priority given to areas with the greatest unmet mental health needs. The legislation allocates $44 million annually for these grants and directs FEMA to conduct research on how major disasters affect mental health and substance abuse disorders across different populations. This bill would affect disaster survivors, state and tribal governments, and mental health service providers nationwide.
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