First Responder Behavioral Health Access Act

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Introduced

In Committee

Passed One Chamber

Passed Both Chambers

Signed into Law

Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Creates new grants and expands existing programs to boost mental health support for first responders.

This bill would create a new 3-year pilot program to help first responders get better mental health support. It would also make it easier for emergency workers and dispatchers to get help from existing mental health training grants. These changes aim to provide more counseling and peer support for those who protect our communities.

What Would Change

Today, federal mental health education and training grants do not explicitly include emergency response providers as eligible institutions for recruiting clinicians. There is also no dedicated federal pilot program to fund mental health support specifically for first responders. If this bill passes, qualified emergency response providers would become eligible for existing grants to recruit mental health professionals, and a new 3-year pilot program would set aside $10 million annually for three years to fund mental health services like embedded counselors and peer support for first responders.

Key Provisions

Creates a 3-year pilot program to give grants for mental health support to first responders, including emergency personnel and dispatchers.
Sets aside $10 million each year for three years (2027-2029) to pay for this new pilot program and related efforts.
Lets emergency response providers, like fire departments and police, apply for existing federal mental health education and training grants.
Allows grant money to be used to embed licensed counselors with first responder teams or to start peer-to-peer counseling programs.
Defines "qualified emergency response provider" to include emergency workers and public safety telecommunicators (dispatchers).

View on Congress.gov

HR 10712 · 119th Congress · AI Summary by gemini-2.5-flash · 8/10

First Responder Behavioral Health Access Act

What Would Change

Key Provisions

Lobbying Activity