Supporting Behavioral Health and Individuals with Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities

• Opened eight new, fully operational Certified Community Behavioral Health Centers (CCBHCs) in October 2024 through a $76.7 million investment in the FY 2025 enacted budget. CCBHCs are community-based clinics that provide a comprehensive range of mental health and substance use services, thereby providing community-based treatment resulting in a reduction in inpatient care, emergency room visits, and criminalization of individuals with behavioral health diagnoses.   
• Expanded access to substance use disorder (SUD) treatment by finalizing more than 15 provider contracts in FY 2026, adding 46 new residential treatment beds statewide (18 adolescent, 16 adult male, and 12 adult female) to reduce wait times for care.
  • Ensured that residential SUD treatment and medications for opioid use disorder are available at no cost to Rhode Islanders, regardless of insurance status—removing financial barriers so people can get the help they need when they need it.
• Marked the 10th anniversary of the Governor’s Overdose Task Force in 2025, recognizing a decade of statewide public–private collaboration to reduce overdose deaths, improve the lives of Rhode Islanders, and support families through four core priorities: comprehensive prevention, strengthened harm reduction and rescue, increased engagement in treatment, and sustained recovery supports.
  • Invested over $95 million (Settlement, Stewardship, and McKinsey accounts) from FY 2023 through FY 2027, on the overdose crisis to fund efforts across the core overdose prevention and intervention strategies.
  • Reduced accidental overdose deaths in Rhode Island by 33 percent in the first six months of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024, with declines seen across every racial and ethnic group.
  • Opened the nation’s first state-sanctioned Overdose Prevention Center (OPC) in January 2025 through EOHHS’s contracted partner Project Weber/RENEW (PWR), providing a safe, integrated setting for harm-reduction services and referrals to treatment and recovery supports. Between January and November 2025, the OPC recorded 6,619 visits from 653 unique individuals, made approximately 4,000 referrals to treatment, peer support, case management, and other services, and conducted 159 overdose interventions, with zero fatal overdoses.
  • Implemented, through RIDOH, a new non-fatal overdose monitoring system in 2025 that tracks all non-fatal overdoses—regardless of substance type—to better inform prevention strategies and respond to the evolving overdose epidemic, expanding beyond RIDOH’s prior focus on opioid-involved overdoses only.
  • Established a Governor’s Overdose Task Force Treatment Workgroup sub-group focused on expanding access to long-term SUD services in Rhode Island’s skilled nursing facilities, addressing staff training needs, reimbursement challenges, and related operational barriers. 

• Launched a new statewide public awareness initiative, No Matter Why You Use, through the interagency behavioral health communications team (BHDDH, EOHHS, and RIDOH) to prevent overdose deaths among Rhode Islanders ages 45–64.  This campaign was funded by State Opioid Response (SOR) SAMSHA dollars braided with $100,000 from opioid settlement funds.
• Convened more than 50 medical professionals from treatment agencies statewide—including CCBHCs, Opioid Treatment Programs, hospitals, and SUD residential providers—for a BHDDH community panel in October 2025 focused on strengthening evidence-based practices and improving care coordination for complex cases. This face-to-face networking event was a success in establishing peer relationships, as well as introducing the ATTC on-line mentoring program that is available for free to assist prescribers in their day-to-day actions.
• Partnered with regional prevention task force coalitions, local police departments, and the DEA to conduct statewide Drug Take Back Day events in April and October 2025, collecting 299 boxes—totaling 7,348.8 pounds—of unused or expired medications for permanent disposal.
• Strengthened Rhode Island’s 988 Behavioral Health Crisis Line, maintaining one of the highest call-answer rates in the nation (98 percent) with an average speed to answer of under two seconds.
  • Answered an average of 2,344 calls per month in Calendar Year 2025, with call volume increasing 36 percent from January to November 2025.
  • Handled 74,984 total calls since the launch of 988.
  • Responded to the following number of calls by fiscal year: 24,414 (FY 2025), 20,458 (FY 2024), and 16,653 (FY 2023).
• Launched a collegiate recovery program with pilot sites at Rhode Island College and the University of Rhode Island, supported by technical assistance from the Association for Recovery in Higher Education.
• Enhanced the statewide recovery advocacy contract to establish the Rhode Island Peer Recovery Professionals Association, advancing certification, testing, peer supervision, and professional supports for peer recovery specialists.
• Drafted and began implementation of a Statewide Comprehensive Suicide Prevention Strategic Plan across state agencies to reduce suicides.
• Invested significantly in support for individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities including:
  • Increased the minimum wage for Direct Support Professionals.
  • Awarded $10 million in Transition and Transformation grants to community providers to develop strategies to stabilize the workforce and increase access to employment and community activities.
  • Allocated $2 million for technology grants to adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities to obtain general technology to assist them with daily activities and, in 2025, launched provider training to strengthen skills in assisting individuals with technology use.
  • Included developmental disability Medicaid rates in the Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner’s (OHIC) rate review process, with biennial review continuing in 2026.
  • Engaged in a Statewide Workforce Initiative that includes developmental disability stakeholders and other state partners and hosted three annual Direct Support Professional Summits to date.