2022 Annual Report

It was a big year on the federal advocacy front. Not only did we help the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act get passed, but we fought for key legislation that removes barriers to access for medication-assisted treatment (MAT), boosts substance use disorder training for health care providers and expands virtual peer-support platforms. We also helped expand Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHC) nationwide and elevated our members’ voices on Capitol Hill. Learn more about our impact.

We brought Mental Health First Aid (MHFA), a skills-based training course, to more communities across the country. We did that by growing our Instructor base, enabling more people to identify, understand and respond to mental health and substance use challenges; supporting our network of more than 2.8 million First Aiders; offering new MHFA community-specific courses; and establishing partnerships so we can further provide mental health resources and support. Learn more about our impact.

Throughout the year, we addressed the overdose epidemic by fostering the use of evidence-based harm reduction, overdose prevention and opioid use disorder treatment in community, criminal justice and health care settings. We also offered tools for addressing youth substance use, launched a new Cannabis Resource Center, created new resources for statewide tobacco control programs and examined the rise of alcohol use in America through our thought leadership. Learn more about our impact.

We strengthened our commitment to raise awareness of and address health care disparities across the country. We hosted virtual learning events on racial justice, shared tools to help our members maximize their diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) efforts, partnered with organizations to bring attention to the stigmas that lead to persistent disparities in mental health and substance use care and fostered shared learning and engagement throughout the year to address issues of inequity. Learn more about our impact.

Advancements in mental health and substance use treatment start with education. We invested in the workforce by leading training and technical assistance sessions across the country, collaborating with organizations to address the workforce crisis, launching an online career portal and sharing resources to help leaders make their practices more efficient, effective and sustainable. And of course, we convened the best minds in health care for NatCon22, the largest conference of its kind. Learn more about our impact.