Your (Unofficial) Guide to State-Sponsored Therapy in Iowa

There’s a way to get affordable mental health care that you might not know about. That’s Iowa’s mental health system.

If you qualify, you can get mental health care at a community mental health center for a small co-pay or low sliding-scale fee. But even if you don’t qualify for services at a state-funded provider, Iowa’s system can still give you information, referrals to affordable local programs, and other essential help for free.

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If you’re in a hurry and want to get the most important information about what’s available in the Iowa mental health system and who it’s for, you can read our quick start guide below.

To learn more about public mental health services in Iowa, keep reading. We’ve done the research to uncover essential facts about who’s eligible, what services you can get, when to go, where to call, and how it works so you can decide if Iowa’s mental health system might be right for you.

Who Is Eligible?

The Iowa public mental health system can help with a wide range of mental health needs, but you should especially consider looking into it if you (or a loved one) are having a mental health crisis, have a severe mental health condition, have Medicaid, or have a limited income.

Everyone in Iowa can use the state-funded mental health emergency response system. If you or someone you love is in crisis, you can call a state or local crisis line to get the help you need, quickly.

Even if you’re not in crisis, you can call your local mental health hotline for information about affordable mental health services in your area. When you call, you can find out whether you might qualify for state-funded mental health services, schedule an assessment or intake appointment, or get free information about other affordable local providers.

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Public mental health services are usually the best option if you’re having a mental health crisis and need help right away.

State mental health programs are required to provide mental health crisis response services and are one of the fastest ways to get care when you’re having a mental health emergency.

The people who answer state and local crisis lines can provide caring attention and support as they help you determine the best response to a crisis, whether it’s inpatient treatment or an appointment with a counselor.

In general, the Iowa mental health system is pretty accessible. There are no statewide eligibility criteria for public outpatient mental health services in Iowa and most community mental health centers serve people with a wide range of mental health needs. At many CMHCs, you’re eligible for therapy as long as you live in one of the counties the program serves.

For example, Seasons Center states that they not only treat “symptoms of mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression,” but also work with clients on “building self-esteem and self-efficacy, gaining insight into relationships, coping with traumatic events, and making difficult decisions.”

Plains Area Mental Health Center “welcomes people of all ages and from all backgrounds” to seek therapy there. Berryhill Center states that they treat “a range of emotional and behavioral disorders from short-term problems to the most disabling illnesses.” Pathways states, “People turn to Pathways to help for many reasons [including] depression, anxiety, anger management, work- or school-related problems, and family concerns.”

However, specialty services like case management and psychosocial rehabilitation usually have more restrictive eligibility criteria. Many CMHCs offer these specialty services. If you have serious mental health symptoms that put you at risk of hospitalization or homelessness, you may benefit from reaching out to your CMHC to learn more about intensive community-based support.

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Community mental health centers in Iowa are great places to find specialized and intensive mental health services like case management and day treatment that can be hard to find anywhere else. These specialty programs can give you extra help when you’re dealing with severe symptoms.

However, while you don’t have to meet eligibility criteria to be able to get outpatient mental health services at a community mental health center, you do need to meet financial and clinical eligibility criteria to qualify for state financial assistance.

To meet clinical eligibility criteria, you need to have a serious mental health condition (a diagnosable condition that affects your daily functioning) or a limited income (generally 200 percent of the federal poverty level or less). If you don’t meet these criteria, you may have to pay the full fee for services at an Iowa CMHC. However, some may still offer sliding-scale fees based on your income. Most also accept a range of public and private insurance plans.

In addition to community mental health centers, Iowa’s mental health system is made up of regional mental health authorities. They manage local provider networks and help people get state financial assistance for mental health services. If you think you might qualify for financial aid, you should contact your regional mental health authority to start the application process. You can find their contact information in the directory below.

Another great way to get financial assistance for mental health care in Iowa is to sign up for Medicaid. Not only do most community mental health centers accept it, but you can also use it to get medical and mental health services at other providers.

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Medicaid is a great way to access the public mental health system in Iowa. Not only do most programs in the public system accept it, but you can also use it to get services from many other programs and private practitioners.

Iowa accepted federal Medicaid expansion in 2014, so you’re eligible for Medicaid if your income is 138 percent of the federal poverty level or less. You may also qualify based on a combination of your income, your medical history, and your mental health condition.

If you’re not sure whether you’re eligible, it’s worth looking into. You can apply for Medicaid in person, by phone, or online. To learn more, you can go to a local Health and Human Services office or fill out an online application on the Iowa Medicaid page or Healthcare.gov.

You can find the number for your local CMHC in the directory below. You can call to learn more about what services they offer, whether you’re eligible, and whether there’s a waitlist. We encourage you to call even if you think a CMHC might not be the right fit for you.

Even if you’re not eligible, or if the program doesn’t offer the service you want, they can probably still help you. Community mental health workers are knowledgeable about local resources and will often give you free information or even referrals to other affordable providers nearby, including local non-profits that provide free or low-cost counseling.

Where Do You Call to Get Started?

One of the best ways to learn more about state mental healthcare in Iowa is to call the regional behavioral health authority or community mental health center that serves your area. You can find contact information for your region in the directory in the next section.

There are also many other numbers you can call for help no matter where you are in Iowa, including the state mental health crisis and information line. You can find the numbers for Iowa’s statewide helplines and hotlines in the information box directly below.

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The nationwide mental health crisis hotline is 988.

The Crisis Text Line for the state of Iowa is 741741.

The statewide Iowa Mental Health Crisis Hotline is (855) 581-8111.

For help and referrals for mental health and other needs, you can also call 211.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Helpline is 1-800-950-NAMI (6264).

You can reach the non-emergency NAMI Iowa Helpline by calling (515) 254-0417.

If you just need to talk to someone, you can call the 24/7 Iowa Warm Line at (844) 775-9276.

You can contact the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, which manages the Iowa public mental health system, by calling (800) 972-2017.

Public mental health services in Iowa are managed on the state level by the Mental and Behavioral Health Division of the Department of Health and Human Services. For general information about Iowa’s mental health system, you can contact DHHS at (800) 972-2017.

However, you’ll probably get the best results by calling the statewide crisis and information hotline, your regional behavioral health authority, or your local community mental health center. You can find the contact information for your region in the directory below.

Iowa CMHC Directory

Public outpatient and community-based mental health services in Iowa are managed by regional mental health authorities. Each regional authority plans and manages the mental health provider network in their region and helps people apply for state mental health funding assistance.

However, regional mental health authorities don’t directly provide outpatient mental health services. Public outpatient mental health services are primarily provided by community mental health centers. They offer basic outpatient services like therapy as well as specialty and intensive community-based mental health services. Many of them have been around for decades.

You can find the contact information for your regional behavioral health authority and CMHC in the directory below. You can also find numbers for local and regional crisis lines, links to apply for state funding assistance, and regional provider directories where you can find private providers and clinics that serve your region in addition to your local CMHC.

If you need information after hours or aren’t sure whether you’re experiencing a mental health crisis, it’s okay to call a state or local crisis line for help. The staff who answer are trained to quickly figure out what you need and can tell you what steps you need to take to connect with the right services.

In addition to calling the statewide crisis line, you can also go to the Your Life Iowa website to connect with someone for crisis support or information via live chat or to browse their provider listings.

Also Consider: Federally Qualified Health Centers

Federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) are another great way to get affordable publicly-funded mental health services in Iowa.

These federally-funded programs provide cutting-edge care in places where good primary healthcare was once hard to find. Most provide integrated care so you can get primary medical and mental health services at the same location. Each FQHC accepts Medicaid and Medicare and offers low sliding-scale fees if you don’t have insurance.

You can search for FQHCs near you by using the online search tool on the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration website.

Troubleshooting Guide

The state mental health system is complicated and can be confusing to navigate. If you’re having any issues, we’re here to help. Here are some of our solutions to common problems you might experience.

If you’ve run into a problem that we haven’t addressed, don’t give up. Call someone at the program (or a state or local mental health hotline) and tell them what’s going on.

You’re much more likely to get the help you need when you advocate for yourself and are persistent. Tell the person you talk to what you need or what problem you’re having.

If they don’t help the first time, call them back and tell them. If you keep calling and keep calm and focused, you should eventually get through to someone who can help you.

Deep Dive: How Does the System Work?

To understand Iowa’s mental health system, it helps to understand how it started and how it’s changed since then.

Public mental health services have been around for a surprisingly long time. But for over a hundred years in America, the only way to get them was in a psychiatric hospital.

In the 1960s, Americans started thinking differently about mental health care. Conditions in psychiatric hospitals were getting worse and new medications made it possible to provide mental health treatment on an outpatient basis.

In response, new laws were passed that required state and local governments to establish community mental health programs as alternatives to institutionalization for people with serious mental illness. The most important was the Community Mental Health Act, which President John F. Kennedy signed into law in 1963.

DEEP DIVE

To learn more about what the public mental health system was like in the early days—and how psychiatric inpatient care has evolved since then—you can read our article “Do Insane Asylums Still Exist? The Surprising Past and Present.”

To learn more about what inpatient mental health treatment is like now, and the differences between how it works in general hospitals and specialized psychiatric facilities, you can read our article “How Inpatient Mental Health Treatment Works.”

Many state mental health programs trace their origins back to the 1960s when these important changes started to happen. Iowa is no exception.

Many of Iowa’s community mental health centers were founded in the 1960s and 1970s using funds from the federal Community Mental Health Act. Many continue to serve their communities to this day.

However, while Iowa has a long history of providing community-based mental health services through CMHCs, it lagged behind other states in building a unified public mental health system.

For decades, Iowa left it to each county to fund and define the rules and eligibility criteria for public mental health services in that county. This led to significant disparities in funding and access to care across the state. Iowa did not start building a statewide mental health crisis system until 2008 and did not establish its current regional mental health system until 2012.

DEEP DIVE

Public outpatient mental health services in Iowa are managed on the state level by the Mental and Behavioral Health Division of the Department of Health and Human Services.

The state mental health department oversees the state’s 13 regional behavioral health authorities, which were established by the state mental health redesign law in 2012. Each regional authority oversees their region’s mental health provider network and helps people apply for mental health funding assistance.

Regional behavioral health authorities don’t provide mental health services directly. Instead, services are provided by independent community mental health centers and other local agencies that have been approved by the behavioral health authority to deliver publicly-funded mental health care.

The Iowa mental health system continues to evolve. The transition Iowa began in 2012 is ongoing and new laws continue to be passed to improve funding and service coordination across the state.

Serious adult mental health reform laws were signed into law by Governor Kim Reynolds in 2018 and were followed by reforms for the children’s mental health system the next year. This update focused on expanding access to both mobile and facility-based crisis services.

More improvements are needed. After closing two of its four psychiatric hospitals as part of the 2012 mental health system redesign, Iowa now has the lowest per-capita number of inpatient psychiatric beds of any state, and community-based mental health services have struggled to keep up with the increase in demand.

Iowa officials are proposing to redesign the service regions again to streamline the system and make it more effective. In the meantime, Iowa has already begun to expand essential mental health services, especially those designed to help during a mental health crisis. It is adding new mobile crisis teams and expanding mobile crisis services to more counties. It also launched the statewide 988 crisis hotline in 2022.

You can use these new state services to get the help you need. If you’re in crisis or need mental health care and aren’t sure what to do, you can start by calling 988 or (855) 581-8111—the people who answer know how the system works and will help you get where you need to go.

Conclusion

According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, only 53 percent of people in Iowa who have mental health conditions get treatment for them. Many of them qualify for public mental health services but don’t know about them.

You can make a difference by reaching out and connecting with local mental health resources to get the care you need. If you’re not sure whether you qualify for Iowa state mental health services, call a community mental health center or a state or regional mental health hotline. You may find out you can get mental health services at a state-funded program or that there’s another affordable option nearby.

The most important thing is to get started—the help you need may be only a call or click away.

Are You Thinking of Online Therapy? Start Here to Get Matched with a Licensed Therapist Right For You.

Therapy with No Waiting Rooms or Driving. Take a quick quiz about your preferences and needs and get matched to a therapist in as little as 48 hours.

Your (Unofficial) Guide to State-Sponsored Therapy in Iowa

Are You Thinking of Online Therapy? Start Here to Get Matched with a Licensed Therapist Right For You.

Have you been in therapy before?

Quick Start Guide

Who Is Eligible?

PRO TIP

Use the State System When You're in Crisis

PRO TIP

Check Out the State System If You Need Specialized Services

PRO TIP

Check If You're Eligible for Medicaid

Where Do You Call to Get Started?

PRO TIP

Important Numbers in Iowa

Iowa CMHC Directory

Iowa Clinics and Crisis Lines

Northwest Iowa Clinics and Crisis Lines

Regional Mental Health Authorities:

Community Mental Health Centers:

Central Iowa Clinics and Crisis Lines

Regional Mental Health Authorities:

Community Mental Health Centers:

East and Southeast Iowa Clinics and Crisis Lines

Regional Mental Health Authorities:

Community Mental Health Centers:

South and Southwest Iowa Clinics and Crisis Lines

Regional Mental Health Authorities:

Community Mental Health Centers:

Also Consider: Federally Qualified Health Centers

Troubleshooting Guide

Problems and Solutions

Deep Dive: How Does the System Work?

DEEP DIVE

For More Information

DEEP DIVE

What Is the Structure of the Iowa Mental Health System?

Conclusion

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