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Matt Yancey, LCSW, MPA

Deputy Commissioner
Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services
Nashville, Tennessee

Since 2018, Matt Yancey has served as the Deputy Commissioner for Behavioral Health Community Programs at the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (TDMHSAS). In this role, he acts as a key advisor to Commissioner Marie Williams on public behavioral health community initiatives. Yancey provides executive leadership for multiple divisions, including Mental Health Services, Substance Abuse Services, Children and Youth Mental Health, and the Office of Strategic Initiatives, while also offering administrative support to the Tennessee Opioid Abatement Council. He manages an annual budget exceeding $450 million (comprised of state and federal funds) and oversees over 1,200 contracts with grantees implementing prevention, early intervention, crisis, treatment, criminal justice, and recovery support programs across Tennessee, supported by a team of 100+ staff.

Before his deputy commissioner appointment, Yancey served as Assistant Commissioner for the TDMHSAS Division of Mental Health Services. His extensive public service career, spanning over twenty years, began in child welfare with the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services. Yancey also held leadership positions in Georgia, including Director for the Office of Children, Young Adults, and Families with the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, Director for the Office of Adolescent and School Health with the Department of Public Health, and Director for the Cobb County School District's federally funded school-based mental health initiative, “Success for All Students”.

He is a licensed clinical social worker and holds graduate degrees in social work from the University of Georgia and public administration from Kennesaw State University. Yancey graduated from Berry College, where he majored in Anthropology and was a member of the men's baseball team.

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