A robust behavioral health crisis care system is necessary to ensure our children receive the support they need. New Hampshire's crisis care system includes:
- Someone To Talk To: The New Hampshire Rapid Response Access Point provides 24/7 crisis counseling. The program assisted Granite Staters via call, text, and chat more than 46,000 times in 2024.1
- Someone To Respond: Mobile crisis response teams provide rapid on-site assessment and support.
- Somewhere To Go: Crisis stabilization centers in Derry and Laconia offer 23 hours of supervised care.
Despite the growing mental health crisis in our state, New Hampshire’s behavioral health crisis system is funded in a way that does not offer long-term stability.
To address this, the bipartisan Commission on Behavioral Health Crisis Services was created in 2023. This group studied sustainable funding mechanisms for the crisis system and made recommendations.
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Need help? Contact Wendy Chase (Community Engagement Coordinator) for help taking action or Emma Sevigny (Children's Behavioral Health Policy Coordinator) with policy questions.
About the Legislation
In 2025, Senate Bill 255 proposed a fiscally responsible, commonsense solution that would have made some of the bipartisan Commission's recommendations a reality. The "someone to talk to" pillar of the crisis system would have been permanently funded using the same proven model that has worked for our 911 system for decades. It would not have had a fiscal impact and would, in fact, save the use of general funds. Unfortunately, this bill stalled.
New Futures will continue to spread the word about the importance of permanent funding for the Granite State's behavioral health crisis care system.
The behavioral health crisis care system protects access to timely and clinically appropriate services while preventing unnecessary and expensive hospitalizations. Access to crisis care reduces uncompensated care and wait times at our local hospitals' emergency departments.2,3
The legislation would protect taxpayers while ensuring our emergency services can respond effectively to all types of crises. Investments in crisis care also lower the burden of local first responders and police by reducing unnecessary 911 calls and dispatches.
Moving to a long-term funding model is critical to ensure the system continues to meet the needs of all Granite Staters.
Bill Progress
Now: New Futures will continue to spread the word about the importance of permanent funding for the Granite State's behavioral health crisis care system. Please see above to share your personal or professional experience and contact your State Representative(s) and State Senator.
January - June 2025: The New Hampshire legislature considered Senate Bill 255. This bill proposed a fiscally responsible, commonsense solution to permanently fund the New Hampshire Rapid Response Access Point using the same proven model that has worked for our 911 system for decades. It received unanimous support in the State Senate. The bill’s language was then included in the Senate’s proposed budget, but unfortunately, it was removed during Committee of Conference negotiations. Luckily, general funds will be used for the next two years, but we need a more sustainable plan to fund this program.
For more details on the bill's status, visit the Senate Bill 255 page on the General Court website.
You can learn more about how New Hampshire's legislative process works on our About the Legislature webpage, or take one of our advocacy trainings.
Resources and News
References
- “988 data.” Email from Division for Behavioral Health: New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services. March 3, 2025.
- SAMHSA National Guidelines for Behavioral Health Crisis Care: Best Practice Toolkit. https://www.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/national-guidelines-for-behavioral-health-crisis-care-02242020.pdf. The table on page 44 shows the very real cost savings that can be realized by implementing mobile crisis and facility-based crisis services in your community... When mobile team and facility-based crisis services are included in optimal ratios (last column of table that follows), total cost drops by 52% in these projections despite engaging all of these individuals. This means that 32% more individuals are served with programs that align better to the unique level of clinical need while costs are reduced by 52%.”
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Crisis Services: Effectiveness, Cost Effectiveness, and Funding Strategies. https://library.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/sma14-4848.pdf. HHS Publication No. (SMA)-14-4848. Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2014.
