Rob and Michele Reiner were not alone in feeling they had “tried everything” to help their son, Nick, before he allegedly killed them both last weekend after an argument at a Christmas party.
Families in Virginia have faced similar struggles: from Virginia Sen. Creigh Deeds (D-Charlottesville), whose son, Gus, died by suicide in 2013, after an attempt to get an Emergency Custody Order failed due to a lack of beds, and Justin Barbour, whose family had called police twice to report a mental-health crisis, before his deadly rampage at a Crozet Harris Teeter.
While the cases involving Reiner, Deeds and Barbour made national headlines, Virginia families struggle with the similar treatment issues every day – navigating a system that is both challenging and frustrating at times.
Recognizing the shortfalls, Virginia has taken significant steps over the last few years to transform its behavioral health system, investing $1.4 billion to help residents who are in crisis or recovery through more than 60 bipartisan laws and 130 coordinated initiatives statewide.
The Right Help, Right Now plan, launched by Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin with bipartisan support, aimed to deliver faster access, stronger support and renewed hope for individuals and families, and by all accounts, has succeeded, though there is much work that remains to be done.
When the initiative began, there were only 36 mobile crisis teams and just 249 crisis care beds and chairs available in Virginia. Today, there are 110 mobile crisis teams and capacity has nearly doubled and is on pace to triple once work projected are completed statewide.
Crisis receiving centers have been completed or are under way Bristol, Williamsburg, Prince William County, Fredericksburg, Lynchburg and Augusta County.
ICYMI
- Augusta County: With $16 million receiving center, ‘no one will face a crisis alone’
- Mental health professionals in demand; concern majority ‘graying out’ of workforce
- Youngkin touts success in cutting fentanyl deaths, maybe a little too aggressively
There’s no question that the work over the last few years will have a lasting impact on Virginians, long after Youngkin’s tenure in the governor’s mansion.
“We rebuilt this system piece by piece with one purpose, to serve individuals and families with dignity and compassion,” said John Little, chief of staff of Gov. Youngkin.
“The work must continue, and it will take all of us to carry it forward. What we have begun together can strengthen the Commonwealth for generations.”
The initiative has focused on expanding crisis care, strengthening community-based services, improving the behavioral health workforce and ensuring Virginians in crisis have someone to call, someone to respond and a safe place to go.
“When a Virginian is in crisis, every second matters,” said Hallie Pence, executive director of Right Help, Right Now. “Across Virginia, we have built and expanded the continuum of care so regardless of the day or time, they can receive the quality of care at the appropriate level in their own community. That is the strengthening of care and the difference this transformation has made.”
Reform highlights
- 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline engagement increased, growing from 5.5K monthly contacts in early 2023 to 30K calls, 3K chats and 3K texts per month now
- Mobile crisis teams expanded from 36 to 110, now responding 24 hours a day.
- Crisis responses grew fifteenfold, rising from 500 per month to 7,594 in November 2025.
- Crisis care capacity is on track to nearly double, increasing from 249 to 460 beds and chairs by the end of the year, with an additional 374 more in development to triple capacity.
- Integrated 988 and 911 systems
- Co-response programs expanded from 10 to 17 communities, with 10 more in development, ensuring clinical response when no crime has occurred.
- Assertive community treatment teams expanded from 43 to 64
- School based behavioral health services grew from six to 23 divisions, now reaching 20,423 students
- Naloxone access dramatically expanded, resulting in 430,000 doses distributed and 97,000 Virginians trained to respond to an overdose.
- Regulatory barriers were reduced by 25 percent, simplifying requirements and accelerating hiring so Virginians can access care more quickly
- Commercial insurers now cover crisis stabilization services statewide, expanding access to same day care and reducing reliance on publicly funded services.
Related stories
- Trump takes inexplicable victory lap with murders of Rob Reiner, Michele Reiner
- Police: Feb. 17 Crozet shooting incident lasted less than one minute, 28 rounds fired
- Crozet shooter’s family says system failed him; CSB says it can be ‘a confusing process’
- Crozet shooter: He was paranoid, schizophrenic, fighting his own mind, sister says
- VCSB working to respond to those in crisis; ease burden on hospitals, first responders
- Virginia works to build infrastructure for same-day care for person in mental-health crisis
- Region’s suicide rates almost double state, national average; treatment options in the works
If you or someone you know needs support now, call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org
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Crystal Graham
