Countywide

An Oakton-based nonprofit has been sounding an alarm about Fairfax County’s plans to eliminate funding for a key mental health program.

The fiscal year 2027 budget presented by County Executive Bryan Hill in February would terminate a $618,952 contract for BeWell, a program run by the Fairfax-Falls Church Community Services Board (CSB) and the nonprofit HopeLink Behavioral Health that coaches people living with serious mental illnesses on their overall health and wellness.


News

Fairfax County officials finalized the purchase of a Chantilly property earlier this month to support an expansion of care for adults seeking mental health treatment.

The property, located at 14554 Lee Road, currently operates as Connections Chantilly, a 16-bed, short-term residential treatment center. It will soon be reclassified as a Crisis Receiving and Stabilization Center, meaning it will “provide an alternative to psychiatric hospitalization … and will offer treatment for those who also need safe withdrawal from substances.”


Countywide

A new center for teens struggling with addiction and their mental health has opened in Chantilly.

Government officials and community members gathered yesterday at the Northern Virginia Adolescent Treatment Center for a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The 16-bedroom facility — located 4211 Walney Road, near a county-run detox center that serves adults — will offer residential, medically managed detox services to youth patients from throughout the region beginning next Tuesday (March 24).


News

Fairfax County’s independent police auditor has recommended that the role of police officers on mental health crisis-related calls be reconsidered.

Richard Schott, who has served as the police auditor since the role was created in 2017, suggested the county reevaluate how it approaches behavioral health calls as part of his review of a fatal shooting by police in Reston in September 2024.


Countywide

Fairfax County will soon have a void to fill at the agency that provides its behavioral health services.

Daryl Washington, who has led the Fairfax-Falls Church Community Services Board (CSB) since 2018, has been appointed commissioner of the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger announced on Monday (Jan. 5).


Countywide

Fairfax County school leaders see signs of improving mental health, but also some ongoing red flags, in the county’s most recent youth survey.

“This is always a bittersweet report to read,” at-large Fairfax County School Board member Kyle McDaniel said after Superintendent Michelle Reid detailed the report’s findings at the board meeting last Thursday (Oct. 23).


Countywide

Fairfax County Public Schools is asking an appeals court to accelerate proceedings in its lawsuit over the U.S. Education Department cutting it off from federal funds.

The request filed last Thursday (Oct. 2) came a day after a three-judge panel with the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously denied the school system’s bid to stop the federal government from freezing or canceling any more funds while the case is in court.


Countywide

Two years after it started exploring the idea, the Fairfax-Falls Church Community Services Board (CSB) is starting to make progress on establishing a regional youth mental health facility.

The new treatment center for teens could become operational in Chantilly early next year, the CSB says.


News

A mental health care provider is charting new territory in Virginia.

Serenity Mental Health Centers will open a clinic in the Fair Oaks area next week, its first in the state. A temporary clinic will launch at 12150 Monument Drive, Suite 375, on Monday (Aug. 4), with a permanent location following later in Suite 815, also in the One Monument Place office building.


News

An Oakton-based nonprofit has received two contracts totaling nearly $1 million to expand its support services for Northern Virginia residents with serious mental illness and substance-use disorders.

Announced yesterday (Tuesday), the contracts were awarded to HopeLink Behavioral Health by the state and Fairfax County governments.


View More Stories