What is TCLI?

In North Carolina, people diagnosed with serious mental illness are sometimes placed in institutions (like adult care homes) even though they would rather live in the community. In 2012, the State of North Carolina entered into a settlement agreement with the United States Department of Justice and created a program to help people transition out of adult care homes. This program is called the Transitions to Community Living Initiative (TCLI). This program helps people transition out of adult care homes and state hospitals, and helps to keep people from entering them in the first place. It is designed to give people who have a serious mental illness a chance to live, work, and participate in their communities.  

If you are living in an Adult Care Home or other institution and are diagnosed with a serious mental illness, or a serious and persistent mental illness, the TCLI program might be able to help you. [1] It can give you the chance to live in your own home with the supports you need to help you find and maintain community housing and services. 

TCLI services include:

  • Supported housing, including vouchers or rental subsidies for community-based supported housing.
  • Community-based mental health services and support such as Assertive Community Treatment (ACT)
  • Supported employment services to prepare for, identify, and maintain integrated, paid, competitive employment 
  • Transition planning to assist with discharge and transition from institutional settings

If you have questions about whether you qualify for TCLI services or you wish to apply, contact your Local Management Entity / Managed Care Organization(LME/MCO). See the list below to find the MCO that covers your county.

People with a legal guardian of the person (not guardian of the estate) must notify the guardian before applying to the TCLI program. Your guardian must consider where you want to live before deciding whether you must stay in an institution or transition into the community. [2]  

Learn more about TCLI

Updates on the TCLI settlement

More info about TCLI.

If you have trouble accessing the TCLI program, please contact us. 

LME/MCO contact information by county (as of 2/1/2022)

Vaya Health 

Phone: 828-225-2785 
Counties Served: Alamance, Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Caldwell, Caswell, Chatham, Cherokee, Clay, Franklin, Graham, Granville, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Person, Polk, Rowan, Stokes, Swain, Transylvania, Vance, Watauga, Wilkes, Yancey

Partners Behavioral Health Management Office  

Phone: 704-884-2501 
Counties Served: Burke, Cabarrus, Catawba, Cleveland, Davie, Forsyth, Gaston, Iredell, Lincoln, Rutherford, Stanly, Surry, Union, Yadkin

Alliance Health Office  

Phone: 919-651-8401 
Counties Served: Cumberland, Durham, Johnston, Mecklenburg, Orange, Wake  

Sandhills Center Office  

Phone: 910-673-9111 
Counties Served: Anson, Davidson, Guilford, Harnett, Hoke, Lee, Montgomery, Moore, Randolph, Richmond, Rockingham

Trillium Health Resources Office 

Phone: 866-998-2597
Counties Served: Brunswick, Carteret, Columbus, Nash, New Hanover, Onslow, Pender, Beaufort, Bertie, Camden, Chowan, Craven, Currituck, Dare, Gates, Halifax, Hertford, Hyde, Jones, Martin, Northampton, Pamlico, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Pitt, Tyrrell, Washington

Eastpointe Office

Phone: 800-913-6109
Counties Served: Bladen, Duplin, Edgecombe, Greene, Lenoir, Robeson, Sampson, Scotland, Warren, Wayne, Wilson

Footnotes

  1. Individuals with primary diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease or dementia are not eligible for this program 
  2. Legal guardian’s decisions about where the individual should live should reflect the individual’s preferences to the extent possible.  NCGS § 35A-1201(a)(5).