Organizational Members

The Ohio Association of County Behavioral Health Authorities (OACBHA) is the statewide organization that represents the interests of Ohio’s county Alcohol, Drug Addiction, and Mental Health Boards at the state level. The Association works with a variety of governmental bodies including the Ohio General Assembly, the Office of the Governor, other statewide office holders, cabinet agencies, partner associations, and along with individuals in recovery and their families. OACBHA works to provide education, develop policies, and seek support for initiatives that will expand and enhance mental health and substance abuse prevention, treatment, and recovery support services throughout Ohio. Most importantly, OACBHA gives the Boards a forum to address statewide issues and provides Boards with the means to communicate their positions and concerns with a single voice.

The County Behavioral Health Directors Association of California (CBHDA) is a non profit advocacy association representing the behavioral health directors from each of California’s 58 counties, as well as the Tri-City (which includes the Cities of Pomona, Claremont and La Verne) and City of Berkeley Mental Health Authorities. The mission of CBHDA is to ensure access to high-quality, cost-effective, and culturally competent behavioral health care for the people of California by providing leadership, advocacy, and support to County Behavioral Health Directors and programs. California’s County Behavioral Health Agencies provide a wide range of specialty mental health and substance use disorder services, primarily to California’s low-income populations as specialty behavioral health plans under Medicaid. In addition, County Behavioral Health Agencies provide a variety of community behavioral health services and supports, including prevention, outreach and engagement, housing, as well as crisis and disaster response-related behavioral health services for Californians across all payers, including the uninsured.

We’re a health and human services consulting company with deep reservoirs of talent, decades of expertise, and an upbeat, collaborative approach. We’ve been helping clients with system improvement, evaluation, planning, and financing for over twenty years. Our team comes from direct service, government, education, justice systems, child welfare, and other settings. And we specialize in healthcare, justice, and social services. If you are designing, implementing, or evaluating systems—or if you’re looking for support with financing or evidence-based practices—we can help.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) leads federal efforts to promote the prevention and treatment of mental disorders. Congress created CMHS to bring new hope to adults who have serious mental illness and children with emotional disorders.

Johnson County Mental Health Center began operation in 1962 providing outpatient services in one location. Today, mental health services are provided in five separate facilities located throughout the county. The Mental Health Center is a department of County Government and is licensed by the State of Kansas as a Community Mental Health Center and has earned accreditation from Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) International.  The center employs more than 360 staff who provide a wide range of mental health and substance abuse services to more than 10,000 county residents annually.  Operations are overseen by the Board of County Commissioners and its day-to-day operations are managed by an Executive Leadership Team that reports to the Assistant County Manager as well as a 13-member Advisory Board appointed by the Board of County Commissioners.

Community Care Behavioral Health Organization (Community Care) is a nonprofit behavioral health managed care organization that is part of the UPMC Insurance Services Division. Based in Pittsburgh, Community Care was created in 1996 to support Pennsylvania’s HealthChoices program for Medicaid recipients. Our mission is to improve the health and well-being of the community through the delivery of effective and accessible behavioral health services, with a focus on recovery.

The National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD) represents state executives responsible for the public mental health service delivery system in all 50 states, 6 territories and pacific jurisdictions, and the District of Columbia. NASMHPD works with states, federal partners, and stakeholders to promote wellness, recovery, and resiliency for individuals with mental health conditions or co-occurring mental health and substance related disorders. Through its Beyond Beds Initiative, NASMHPD has been focusing on the development of a robust continuum of care with an emphasis on 988 and crisis services to divert individuals with mental illness from jails and unnecessary emergency room visits.  The establishment of crisis services can help individuals receive the appropriate level of care they need, taking the pressure off higher end services.

The International Initiative for Mental Health Leadership (IIMHL) is a unique international collaborative that focuses on improving mental health and addictions services. IIMHL is a collaboration of ten members: Australia, England, Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Scotland, USA and Sweden. IIMHL organizes systems for international innovation sharing, networking and problem solving across countries and agencies. The overall aim is to provide better outcomes for people who use mental health and addiction services and their families.

The Behavioral Health Care team at Dickinson Wright has nearly 70 years of combined industry experience. Our lawyers represent clients as they navigate through the behavioral health care reformation brought on by the 2008 Parity Act and the 2010 Affordable Care Act. From the beginning, our attorneys have been involved in the latest developments affecting the industry, including developing behavioral health insurance exchanges; integrating primary medical and behavioral health programs; creation of clinically integrated networks and implementing new CMS managed care, stark, parity and coordination of care regulations.

LifeWorks is a fearless leader for youth and young families in central Texas. With more than 20 programs in three main divisions, its services are designed to provide critical resources and opportunities to meet the needs of the clients it serves. As a leader in Austin’s movement to end youth homelessness, LifeWorks has housed more than 900 youth in three years – continuing its pursuit of ensuring that youth homelessness in Austin is rare, brief and non-recurring.

NYAPRS is a nationally acclaimed change agent dedicated to improving services, public policies, and social conditions for people with mental health, substance use and trauma-related challenges.  We advance this mission through the promotion of human rights, health, wellness, recovery, and full community inclusion, so that all may achieve maximum potential in communities of choice. NYAPRS is a peer-run organization that ensures that the authentic voice of people with lived experience drives all our actions and activities.

Prevention Institute (PI) is a national nonprofit with offices in Oakland, Los Angeles, Houston, and Washington, D.C. Our mission is to build prevention and health equity into key policies and actions at the federal, state, local, and organizational level to ensure that the places where all people live, work, play and learn to foster health, safety and wellbeing. Since 1997, we have partnered with communities, local government entities, foundations, multiple sectors, and public health agencies to bring cutting-edge research, practice, strategy, and analysis to the pressing health and safety concerns of the day. We have applied our approach to injury and violence prevention, healthy eating and active living, land use, health systems transformation, and mental health and wellbeing, among other issues. PI collaborates with a range of community partners to shift policies, practices, and norms to create conditions that support mental health and resilience. We partner with community-based coalitions to shape strategies that reflect their priorities and draw on their history, culture, strengths, and assets. Transformation may start with creating a safe space for young men at a bike shop, or engaging faith leaders to help de-stigmatize depression, or connecting veterans to ease re-entry to civilian life. These community changes, large and small, along with the collaborations required to make them happen, ultimately strengthen mental health and wellbeing across communities. For more information, go to www.preventioninstitute.org.