DBHDD Commissioner Addresses GMA Board

GMA's Board of Directors spent part of their October 16 board meeting in Atlanta learning how the state's mental health system works and discussing how Georgia cities can best connect to it.

GMA President and Young Harris Mayor Andrea Gibby invited Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Development Disabilities (DBHDD) Commissioner Kevin Tanner to address the board. Mental health is an issue of particular importance to Gibby, telling the board that every city across the state must start dealing with it.

Commissioner Tanner has spent 36 years in public service, including seven as the county manager in Dawson County and four terms in the Georgia House of Representatives. He said the state cannot address its mental health problems alone. He outlined the breath of DBHDD's $2 billion annual budget, six regional offices, five state hospitals, 20 community service boards (CSBs) and approximately 800 providers serving across the state.

In his comments, Tanner said the quality of CSBs often depends on the zip code. Senate Bill 535, signed this year, hopes to address that disparity by making each CSB chief executive a DBHDD employee and requiring standard bylaws.

He urged city officials to know their regional director and their local CSB chief executive. "They'll answer your call," he said, "and that includes you calling them at night."

He called the 988 system "the 911 of mental health." In 2025, Georgia saw more than 350,000 calls, texts, and chats. Twenty-one thousand mobile crisis teams were dispatched in 2025, and new crisis centers in Dublin, Augusta and south Fulton County have recently opened, with additional centers planned.

Tanner touched on tools cities should be aware of and use. Assisted outpatient treatment programs allow probate courts to requirement treatment for people with severe mental illness. Fifty co-responder teams are also supported by DBHDD. These teams put clinicians with law enforcement and almost always divert people to services instead of jail, he said.

Tanner said the biggest challenge they faces are those "familiar faces," people with severe mental illness who move from the streets to jails and hospitals. He said that department is drafting a proposal to assist those people and is piloting the use of recovery monitors in five jails.

After his remarks, the board members split into groups based on geographic region to discuss what they heard and what cities could do. The biggest gap identified by board members was simply awareness of what DBHHD does and the services it provides. One board member commented that Tanner's remarks were the start of city officials "connecting the dots."

Suggestions in the group discussions focused on closing the information gap.

One thought that was shared was to add a city appointee or ex-officio member to each CSB board, since counties appoint the members of those boards. It was also suggested that CSB and DBHDD representatives attend regional commission meetings to provide a quarterly report, and that DBHDD staff present to city councils and local stakeholders, as cities are often conveners, even when they don't directly provide services. Highlighting the department at GMA district meetings was also suggested.

Representatives from Macon and Savannah mentioned unsheltered homelessness as a daily issue. Chronic homelessness tied to severe mental illness or substance abuse was highlighted as an issue needing coordination and direct state involvement.

Across all the discussions, the message that while the services exist, city leaders are not always aware of them and need additional information.