As part of May Mental Health Awareness Month, NACBHDD is pleased to announce a new report highlighting the critical role local mental health authorities in their communities.

Local mental health authorities are on the frontlines for managing and providing care in community settings. However, there are wide variations in how states organize their local public mental health authorities. Given the increasing demand for mental health services, the launch of 988, and the growing recognition of community-based approaches to whole person health and human services, the role of local authorities is increasing in importance.

To better understand the existing landscape of local mental health authorities, we compared two states with robust public systems: Texas and Michigan. This case study succinctly identifies current authorities and structures for the behavioral health systems, their relationship with Medicaid, and how these systems are positioned to interact with the crisis continuum.