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SANTA FE, NM—New Mexico residents stand to gain significant improvements in behavioral health services following Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s signing of Senate Bill 1 (SB1) and Senate Bill 3 (SB3) on February 27, 2025. These two critical pieces of legislation aim to strengthen and expand behavioral health resources across the state.

SB1 establishes the Behavioral Health Trust Fund, ensuring sustainable, long-term financing for mental health and substance use treatment programs. This dedicated fund will support various services, including prevention programs, infrastructure development, and workforce expansion. The Health Care Authority will oversee fund distribution with legislative oversight, ensuring accountability and effectiveness.

SB3 introduces a regionalized approach to behavioral health reform by creating a statewide executive committee to coordinate services based on local needs assessments. The legislation streamlines Medicaid administration, enhances workforce development, and mandates regular service gap assessments to improve access and efficiency.

“Unanimous cooperation between our state legislators and Governor Lujan-Grisham demonstrates that New Mexico is ready to tackle the urgent behavioral health crisis burdening New Mexicans,” said County Commissioner Lisa Cacari-Stone. “Given our comprehensive local system of care, Santa Fe County is well positioned to be a lead partner in implementing the nuts and bolts of behavioral health reform efforts from workforce development to treating mental health and substance use addictions as well as advancing culturally centered prevention strategies for our diverse populations.”

For Counties and Cities across New Mexico, these investments could provide critical resources to expand and enhance behavioral health services, including:

Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) – Intensive, community-based support for individuals with serious mental illness (SMI).

Psychiatry Services for Youth and Adults – Expanded access to psychiatric care to meet growing community needs.

Mobile Crisis Response Teams – Rapid-response teams to provide on-site crisis intervention.

Housing Continuum for Persons with Serious Mental Illness (SMI) – Increased support for stable housing solutions to address mental health challenges.

With a stable and sustainable funding source, service providers can help implement long-term strategies with State and local governments to more effectively ensure that residents receive the care they need. The Behavioral Health Trust Fund could also offer funding to bolster current services statewide.

Santa Fe County’s Community Services Department currently provides critical behavioral health services, including detoxification, crisis intervention, and treatment, through La Sala and its vast array of other behavioral health providers throughout the community, including the CONNECT network. 

“The passage of these Bills helps to redevelop and redesign the system of care and will serve to help benefit all residents by creating a more comprehensive, collaborative safety net that works to leverage resources regionally while sustainably sourcing supports for providers locally,” said Anne Ryan, the County’s Community Services Director.

The County’s Adult Detention Facility (SFCADF) also offers medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for individuals with substance use disorders, integrating behavioral and primary care services. The facility employs six licensed behavioral health clinicians who provide:

• Suicide assessment, intervention, and prevention
• Crisis intervention
• Psychiatric service assessments
• Mental health and substance use treatment programs

In 2023, Santa Fe County received a Bureau of Justice Affairs (BJA) grant to expand MAT services and strengthen community-based treatment support for individuals reentering society.

“This process has been a journey, but one worth taking as it’s resulted in great success for the care and health of those entering and exiting the County Jail,” said Warden Derek Williams. “So much so that we’ve been asked to host peer communities as a Model Site next month in March.”

Santa Fe County would like to thank the New Mexico State Legislator for investing in behavioral health. We look forward to developing these health initiatives to better serve our community!

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