The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that helps advance the behavioral health of the nation.

 

Prevention, treatment, and recovery support services for behavioral health are crucial components to the community. Health services work to improve our health and minimize costs to individuals, families, businesses, and governments. However, people suffering from either substance abuse and mental disorders, or both, because of their illness are often excluded from the current health care system and instead have to rely on "public safety net" programs. Last year alone, approximately 20 million people in need of substance abuse treatment did not receive it. Further, an estimated 10.6 million people reported an unmet need for mental health care. The gap in service to this population unnecessarily jeopardizes the health and wellness of people and causes a ripple effect in costs to American communities.

 

 

SAMHSA's Vision

 

SAMHSA devotes its resources, including programs, policies, information and data, contracts and grants, to help act on the knowledge that:

 

• Behavioral Health is essential for overall wellbeing

• Prevention works

• Treatment is effective

• People recover from mental and substance use disorders

 

SAMHSA's Initatives

 

• Support the behavioral health field with critical data from national surveys and surveillance

• Build public awareness of the importance of behavioral health

• Supporting innovation and practice improvement by evaluating and disseminating evidence-based, promising behavioral health practices and engaging in activities that support behavioral health system transformation

• Collect best practices and developing expertise around prevention and treatment for people with mental illness and addictions

• Help states build and improve system capacity by encouraging innovation, supporting more efficient approaches, and utilizing evidence-based programs and services to produce measurable results

 

Our lives, Our health, Our future.