Jonesboro, AR – JonesboroRightNow.com – Arisa Health, which is the designated community mental health center (CMHC) in 41 counties in Arkansas, including all of Northeast Arkansas, will not submit a bid to the State of Arkansas for a new CMHC contract.

Arisa Health provides various mental health services to uninsured, underinsured, Medicaid, and other vulnerable populations. It is funded through state and federal funding. Arisa currently operates a clinic in each of the 41 counties it serves.

According to a statement released to Jonesboro Right Now, the organization said while it had “absorbed” funding gaps in the past, the level of supplemental support required in the most recent community mental health center services contract cycle had “grown exponentially and is no longer sustainable.”

“While the CMHC services have been a core part of Arisa’s identity, they represent only a portion of the organization’s comprehensive behavioral health services, which Arisa Health will continue to serve and grow through additional state programs, as well as care for Medicaid clients, including PASSE members, and other vulnerable populations,” the statement said.

The statement said the invitation for bid solicitation included a significant annual reduction of approximately $4.4 million in total funding to the organization. It added that during communication with state of Arkansas officials, issues raised regarding the situation were not addressed.

The statement added that those issues included insufficient rates, lack of code parity for community mental health centers, adjustments for inflation and population growth, and workforce shortages driven by wage inflation.

“It is simply not possible to recruit and retain a behavioral health workforce without allowing for even a modest increase in compensation in response to rising inflation,” the statement said.

Laura Tyler, CEO of Arisa Health, told JRN that overall funding for the organization has leveled out over the years. With less funding, she said, the organization’s resources had been stretched thin.

“We try to be good stewards of the resources that come our way, but there comes a time when you’ve just stretched things so far and you can’t maintain quality. And so, for me, when we talk about quality, it’s really about consistency in staffing and the ability to recruit and retain highly qualified staff,” she said.

“When we saw the total funds that were available, the allocation to the four regions that we have historically served was 37% of total funding. But our population is 62% of the state’s population,” Tyler continued. “The core issue is a lack of funds for behavioral health.”

The current contract expires June 30. After it expires, Arisa will close some of its locations and no longer be the state-contracted provider for mobile crisis, forensic restoration services, and services for incarcerated people. The statement added that this will affect clients, staff and the communities it serves.

Arisa Health provides various mental health services for inmates at the Craighead County Detention Center. With Arisa not submitting a bid, Craighead County Sheriff Marty Boyd told JRN he was still “early in the game” in figuring out the next steps for the jail’s mental health services.

He said next week, he aimed to have conversations about what entities could provide the services. The sheriff’s department also has a Crisis Stabilization Unit, which has a contract through St. Bernards, which Boyd said would be leaned on more heavily in the coming weeks.

“It’s just too early, those conversations haven’t taken place yet, but we’ll definitely be leaning on them (Crisis Stabilization Unit) more,” he said.

Tyler said other services Arisa provides, including its school counseling, telehealth, and substance abuse recovery services, will not be affected by the organization not submitting a bid.

“Arisa Health is very much open and in business. This is going to create some need for us to make a pivot, but we very much are committed to the 41 counties we serve,” she said. “We are very much staying in business.”

According to the statement, “thirteen outpatient clinics, which currently handle more than 70 percent of Arisa’s clients, will remain open and serve as hubs for services throughout the 41 counties. Arisa will actively engage with clients whose services are tied to CMHC funding to ensure they are aware of these changes. Once DHS announces the new CMHC providers for each region, Arisa will work closely with them to support a smooth transition and help clients maintain access to care.”

The Jonesboro clinic, located at 2707 Browns Lane, is among the 13 clinics that will remain open, Tyler confirmed. The other clinics that will remain open are:

• Cabot
• Conway
• Forrest City
• Harrison
• Mountain Home
• North Little Rock
• Pocahontas
• Rogers
• Russellville
• Searcy
• Springdale
• West Memphis

Tyler said the goal was for there to be no gap in coverage for community mental health centers between Arisa’s contract expiring and the new CMHC providers taking over for each region, adding that the goal was for the transition to be made within the next 60 days.

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Arisa Health was formed when four community health providers, Counseling Associate, Mid-South Health Systems, Ozark Guidance, and Professional Counseling Associates merged. Mid-South and now Arisa has provided community mental health services to the Northeast Arkansas counties for 49 years.

In 2025, NAMI Arkansas, which is a part of the nationwide organization National Alliance on Mental Illness, reported that in Arkansas, 546,000 adults have a mental health condition, and 47,000 adolescents experience a major depressive episode each year. In addition, over 1,100,000 people in the state live in a community without enough mental health professionals.

“This is a very important service, that if we don’t find someone to take this contract or find other resources, it puts the whole community in a bind,” Boyd said. “It is a very important subject that is not talked about, not seen by a lot of people, but it is a service that us law enforcement we see daily. So, hopefully we get something worked out soon.”

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to include comments from Arisa Health CEO Laura Tyler and Craighead County Sheriff Marty Boyd.

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