Elliot Pinsly

President & Chief Executive Officer

Behavioral Health Foundation

Nashville, Tennessee – United States

Elliot Pinsly serves as Chief Executive Officer for the Behavioral Health Foundation, a nonprofit policy center driving meaningful systems and policy changes that reduce stigma and improve access to voluntary, evidence-based mental health and addiction care. Elliot is a passionate thought leader and award-winning advocate who has been instrumental in developing and expanding crisis walk-in centers, deflection and pre-arrest diversion programming, emergency mental health transportation reform, mental health parity enforcement, harm reduction access, and innovative mental health awareness initiatives. Elliot co-chairs (and co-founded) the Tennessee Diversion Coalition, co-leads 988 mental health crisis initiatives for the Police, Treatment, and Community Collaborative (PTACC), and serves on multiple Special Interest Groups for the Global Law Enforcement & Public Health Association (GLEPHA). Locally in his hometown of Nashville, Elliot wrote a proposal for a mental health community responder program and secured a commitment from city officials to plan and implement a non-law enforcement response to 911 calls.

Elliot is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) with a master’s degree from Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. In past roles, he provided mental health services as a therapist for military veterans, children, and families. Elliot’s recent honors include the 2022 Social Worker of the Year Award from the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Tennessee, the national 2021 Brudney Social Work Award from Mental Health America, and the 2020 Advocacy Award from the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Tennessee. He currently resides in Nashville, Tennessee, with his wife and two children.