Tennessee Move Initiative

The Tennessee Move Initiative is designed to successfully transition identified individuals into community-based housing through short-term, intensive support services. Local teams, developed and monitored in partnership with Community Mental Health Centers, work in direct collaboration with state-owned regional mental health institutes to ensure coordinated support for the individual, their family, and their housing provider, while connecting to natural and formal supports already present in the individual’s home community. 

The Tennessee Move Initiative can support your discharge planning process and reduce the risk of readmission by providing intensive, wraparound support during the critical transition from institutional care to community-based housing. 

Each client is paired with a care coordinator and a peer specialist, providing both clinical coordination and lived-experience support throughout the transition. 

Essential Functions of Local Teams 

• Work closely with state hospital staff to engage long-term individuals identified as ready for discharge 

• Collaborate with treatment providers to coordinate ongoing care 

• Assist in securing benefits and resources 

• Work with state hospitals to help secure housing, when needed 

• Connect clients to community resources, including peer centers, psychosocial programs, and supported employment 

• Coordinate care across the full provider team, including case managers, therapists, and prescribers 

• Provide 24/7 support to the individual, their family, and their housing provider 

• Work alongside community providers to help clients progress toward more independent levels of living 

This program is available in Davidson County. 

Intensive Longterm Support 

This program provides intensive, long-term, wraparound support in a community-based setting focused on lasting recovery, not just discharge. Residents live in a supportive living facility with room and board included, and have access to a full range of services designed around their needs, including: 

• Psychiatric care, provided on-site 

• Nursing support 

• Case management to help coordinate every part of a client’s care 

• Treatment services, including therapy and peer counseling 

• Living skills development, building the everyday skills needed for independence 

• Community activity participation, helping residents reconnect with life outside the hospital 

Why This Program Exists 

This program is designed to make earlier discharge from Middle Tennessee Mental Health Institute (MTMHI) possible, safely and sustainably. For some individuals, existing community services, like case management, outpatient psychiatry, mobile crisis response, or peer support centers, aren’t enough on their own to meet the specialized needs that come after a long inpatient stay. 

Intensive Long-Term Support layers housing support, on-site psychiatric care, case management, day programming, and other services.  

This program is available in Davidson and Madison Counties.