Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act

Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act (LEMHWA) program funds are used to improve the delivery of and access to mental health and wellness services for law enforcement officers and their families through the implementation of peer support, training, family resources, suicide prevention, and other promising practices for wellness programs.

Good mental and psychological health is just as essential as good physical health for law enforcement officers to be effective in keeping our communities safe from crime and violence. The Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act (LEMHWA) Program supports efforts to protect the mental health and well-being of law enforcement officers and deputies. Unfortunately, the stress of officers’ work and the stigma often associated with seeking assistance for emotional and mental health issues have led to negative consequences such as divorce, alcoholism, injury, and even an increase in suicides for officers across the country.

The LEMHWA Implementation program aims to support state, local, tribal, or territorial law enforcement agencies seeking to implement new or enhance existing programs that offer training and services on officer emotional and mental health, peer mentoring, suicide prevention, stress reduction, and support services for officers and their families.

The COPS Office encourages small, rural, tribal, and regional coalitions of agencies to apply for LEMHWA funding to improve their wellness efforts—for example, initiatives such as establishing a joint or regional Peer Support program or conducting regional training. Proposed projects may serve one agency, a consortium of agencies, or personnel from agencies located within a county or state.

Eligibility is limited to state, local, tribal, or territorial law enforcement agencies.

- Search using the Assistance Listing Title and the Funding Opportunity Number from the solicitation. - Select “Apply for Grants” under the “Applicants” column. Enter your email address to be notified of any changes to the opportunity package before the closing date. Click the Workspace icon to use Grants.gov Workspace. - Within 24 hours of JustGrants receiving an application from Grants.gov, the user submitting the application in Grants.gov and SAM E-Biz POC will receive an email to register for a JustGrants account. The email is from DOJ’s secure user management system (DIAMD) and will include instructions on how to create an account. To ensure that you receive these emails and that they are not flagged as spam, we recommend adding DIAMD-NoReply@usdoj.gov to the trusted sender list in your email settings. The E-Biz POC at the applicant organization serves as the Entity Administrator and must log in to JustGrants to confirm the entity’s profile, add users, and assign the two required Authorized Representatives (Law Enforcement Executive/Program Official and Government Executive/Financial Official). The Authorized Representatives are officials who have ultimate and final responsibility for all programmatic and financial decisions for your agency, as the legal recipient. - The Application Submitter will complete the application by entering data into web-based forms, uploading attachments, and accepting assurances and certifications. Before you submit your application, each section much be completed and free of validation errors. If not, please return to each identified page using the table of contents on the right side of the page. If any required fields are unanswered, they will be flagged with warning messages. In this case, answer these required fields. - Once all sections are completed, the application submitter will submit the application.

Upon approval by the Director of the Office of Community Oriented Services, award notifications will be sent to successful applicants. The award documents must be signed by the appropriate Authorized Representative(s).