History of Social Action
For more than 100 years, the Mental Health Association of Maryland has worked to address the mental health and substance use needs of Marylanders of all ages, particularly those disadvantaged and marginalized. We are committed to ensuring every Marylander’s fundamental right to quality behavioral health care through advancing public policy, monitoring service quality, providing training and education, leading systems change, and advancing new evidence-based treatments.
Our experienced staff and volunteers work with local Mental Health Association chapters and branches across Maryland. Through our local, state, and national network, consumers, advocates, family members, and concerned citizens work together to promote mental health and recovery from mental illnesses and substance use disorders.
The record of accomplishment that follows, covering the past thirty years, is a tribute to the energy and dedication of MHAMD volunteers, leaders, and partners across the state who believe that change for the better is always possible.
2022
Worked with the Maryland Behavioral Health Coalition to increase funding for community mental health and substance use care, expand resources for Maryland’s behavioral health crisis response system, make systematic reforms to address the unique needs of children and youth, implement new policies to improve supports for Maryland’s older adult community, and secure financial relief for those unable to access care through their insurance carrier’s network of behavioral health providers. Launched Equal Treatment Maryland, a new advocacy campaign designed to educate lawmakers and garner support for policies to ensure access to behavioral health care when and where needed. Worked with Path Forward partners to increase adoption of the Collaborative Care Model across Maryland health systems. Supported successful efforts to reform Maryland’s juvenile justice system, prevent and address childhood trauma, and expand access to psychedelic assisted therapy.
2021
Worked with the Maryland Behavioral Health Coalition on a successful legislative campaign that secured additional investments in community mental health and substance use services, greater accountability in the management of Maryland’s public behavioral health system, new policies to improve health equity, greater flexibility in the delivery of telehealth, enhanced school behavioral health supports, and more resources for individuals in crisis. Organized a series of virtual forums covering children’s behavioral health services, juvenile justice reform, and crisis response expansion efforts. Advocated successfully for strong behavioral health parity reporting requirements. Continued working with the business community to build alignment and relationships across sectors, realizing positive developments in the expansion telehealth and measurement-based care. Operationalized a renewed organizational focus on diversity, inclusiveness, and community engagement, ensuring that advocacy efforts are relevant to and appropriately addressing the needs of those most impacted by the resulting policies.
2020
Organized the Maryland Behavioral Health Coalition around an ambitious legislative effort that protected $25 million in proposed budget cuts to community mental health and substance use disorder services, ensured that student behavioral health needs were addressed in a landmark education reform bill, enhanced parity compliance reporting requirements, and enacted measures to improve the diversion of individuals in crisis away from emergency departments and the criminal justice system. Worked to ensure access to care and prevent a disruption of behavioral health services during the coronavirus pandemic. Advocated for increased flexibility in the delivery of treatment via telehealth. Pressed for actions to lessen the impact of COVID-19 on Marylanders living and working in congregate settings. Convened a range of stakeholders in a series of forums aimed at reducing racial disparities at the intersection of behavioral health and criminal justice. Partnered with the business community to launch a private sector initiative focused on improving behavioral health care in Maryland, D.C., and Northern Virginia.
2019
Rallied the Behavioral Health Coalition to secure a multi-year 22 percent increase in funding for community mental health and substance use disorder services, improve behavioral health service coordination in Maryland schools, ensure the availability of medication assisted treatment for opioid use disorders in correctional facilities, and modify several laws and programs designed to divert people with behavioral health needs away from emergency departments. Defeated legislation that threatened to disrupt public behavioral health services for 300,000 Marylanders and informed a subsequent state-level system restructuring process. Helped shape recommendations developed by the newly established Commission to Study Mental and Behavioral Health in Maryland. Ensured the inclusion of behavioral health service categories in justice reinvestment grant funding. Supported successful efforts to increase behavioral health supports for veterans, expand access to telehealth services, and decriminalize attempted suicide.
2018
Worked with the Behavioral Health Coalition to secure an additional $16 million in funding for the state’s behavioral health workforce; improve access to care through an expansion of telehealth services and a three-year, $12-million funding initiative to increase crisis response services; enhance the quality and effectiveness of behavioral health care delivered in primary care settings through a $2-million pilot of the Collaborative Care Model; and ensure access to data necessary to improve the system of care for children and youth. Informed and influenced state processes charged with redesigning Maryland’s public education system and reinvesting savings from various criminal justice reform policies. Advocated for passage of a “red flag” law to reduce suicide by firearm. Continued efforts to ensure the appropriate implementation of federal healthcare reform and insurance parity laws.
2017
Saw passage of the Keep the Door Open Act — the namesake legislation of the Behavioral Health Coalition’s multi-year advocacy effort to increase funding for community mental health and substance use disorder services. The bill was included as part of the landmark Heroin and Opioid Prevention Effort (HOPE) and Treatment Act of 2017. Led the effort to pass legislation increasing maternal mental health resources and training for the public and providers. Advocated successfully for the adoption of budget language in furtherance of a pilot Collaborative Care program. Partnered with other stakeholders to develop an outpatient civil commitment pilot program designed to improve services for individuals with serious mental illness who have not been well-served by the public behavioral health system. Realized a longstanding goal of the Coalition on Mental Health and Aging with the establishment of regional geriatric behavioral health specialists. Reconstituted a Children’s Behavioral Health Coalition to focus and coordinate advocacy efforts specific to that population.
2016
Together with the Behavioral Health Coalition, renewed the Keep the Door Open campaign and mobilized around an ambitious agenda to properly resource Maryland’s community behavioral health provider network, develop a plan for ensuring access to critical crisis services statewide, and increase substance use disorder funding and treatment resources. Partnered with other stakeholders to pass landmark network adequacy legislation. Worked to improve health outcomes in primary care settings by championing the use of the Collaborative Care Model in Medicaid Managed Care Organizations. Advocated successfully for the passage of legislation to advance community-partnered school behavioral health programs, and to protect services and funding for youth with behavioral health needs. Successfully amended a broad criminal justice reform initiative to ensure that savings gleaned from the effort will be reinvested into community behavioral health supports.
2015
Led the Behavioral Health Coalition in an advocacy campaign to “Keep the Door Open,” successfully reversing more than $20 million in budget cuts to public mental health and substance use disorder services. Published a study highlighting serious concerns related to the accuracy and adequacy of commercial health insurers’ psychiatric networks. Championed legislation establishing a task force to study and address maternal mental health needs across the state. Took on an expanded substance use disorder advocacy role, supporting successful efforts to expand overdose prevention initiatives and improve the effectiveness of Maryland’s Good Samaritan law. Organized a first-of-its-kind Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) train-the-trainer program, building an expertise and capacity that has allowed for more regional and local CIT training.
2014
Continued through reintroduction of the Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Safety Net Act to raise awareness about unmet needs in a variety of areas, including services for children and older adults, housing and reentry needs, and mental health literacy. Played a key role in the enactment of legislation merging the state’s Mental Hygiene Administration and Alcohol and Drug Abuse Administration into a single Behavioral Health Administration. Advocated successfully to ensure consumer representation in the process to implement a Community Integrated Medical Home Program. Raised critical issues related to the availability of mental health services in schools; supported successful legislation to eliminate barriers to treatment by regulating the insurer step therapy process; and addressed serious access-to-care issues by supporting legislation expanding coverage to all Medicaid recipients for healthcare services delivered via telemedicine.
2013
Worked with the Maryland Mental Health Coalition to address longstanding, unmet service needs through introduction of the Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Safety Net Act. Achieved a supplemental budget appropriation that included additional funding for Safety Net priorities, including crisis services, Mental Health First Aid and evidence-based programming. Collaborated with addictions advocates to secure passage of legislation making it easier for consumers to enforce their rights under the federal parity law and for the state to better ensure carrier compliance. Fought to ensure balance during policy debates about gun ownership. Remained active in efforts to implement the federal Affordable Care Act and advocated successfully for amendments to improve continuity of care and oversight. Supported a departmental recommendation to combine treatment for specialty mental health and substance use disorder services under the management of a single risk-based administrative services organization.
2012
Advocated successfully for the restoration of mental health funding through a supplemental budget appropriation and the rejection of millions of dollars in proposed legislative cuts to the public mental health system. Secured passage of legislation to increase transparency in the process by which Medicaid Managed Care Organizations report Medical Loss Ratios. Amended Health Benefit Exchange legislation in an effort to require that qualified health plans demonstrate parity compliance. Supported successful efforts to enhance Maryland’s community college tuition exemption for individuals with disabilities; require the availability of mental health support services for employees of state facilities who are affected by traumatic events; expand the role of the Cultural Linguistic Health Care Provider Competency Program; expand coverage for services delivered through telemedicine; extend tax credits for employers who hire people with disabilities; and prevent recidivism by eliminating barriers to the successful reentry of ex-offenders. Continued involvement in all efforts related to the integration of public behavioral health services and healthcare reform.
2011
Worked in concert with the Maryland Mental Health Coalition to reduce proposed cuts to the public mental health system budget, increase community services funding and safeguard services for vulnerable Marylanders. Achieved through the Governor’s supplemental budget $10 million in state general and federal funds to enhance rates for community mental health providers and $25 million for MHA deficiency appropriation. Collaborated with disability and health care advocates to pass the first alcohol tax increase in 40 years. Supported legislation to expand anti-bullying and harassment policies to nonpublic schools; limit employers from using credit checks as a factor when hiring; require coordination among state and federal agencies to provide mental health services and information to veterans; ensure MHA facilities and staff conform to principles of trauma-informed care; and extend tax credits for employers who hire people with disabilities. Participated actively in ongoing discussions related to behavioral health integration and broader health care reform. Fought to ensure compliance with state and federal parity laws.
2010
Advanced the efforts of the Maryland Mental Health and Criminal Justice Partnership to improve community reentry by passing legislation requiring detention centers to provide a 30-day supply of psychiatric medication to inmates upon release. Supported legislation ensuring the Maryland Insurance Administration has the enforcement authority to guarantee compliance with the federal mental health parity law; legislation granting voting rights to individuals under guardianship for a mental disability; and legislation providing more transparency at Individual Education Program proceedings in public schools. Advocated for an increased alcohol tax to help sustain services for mental health and substance use disorders, developmental disabilities and Medicaid expansion.
2009
Supported legislation to clarify the rights of individuals in psychiatric facilities; expand behavioral health services to veterans throughout the State; establish a State Task Force on Prisoner Reentry; require the Division of Corrections to issue ID cards to every inmate; and prohibit a principal from suspending or expelling a student from school solely for attendance-related offenses. Advocated for a 30-day supply of psychiatric medication for inmates released from local detention centers. Collaborated with the Mental Health Transformation Office to hold a symposium with national experts regarding best practices for housing ex-offenders living with mental illness. Increased the behavioral health training topics approved by the Maryland Police and Correctional Training Commission.
2008
Through the Mental Health and Criminal Justice Partnership, secured a pilot program to enable inmates with mental illness to receive a state identification card upon release so that community service access is enhanced and developed an implementation plan to ensure that returning inmates receive mental health outpatient appointments within 30 days of release. Won passage of budget language requiring reporting on benefit restoration, medication access and other reentry services for inmates returning to the community. Supported legislation to provide a cost of living adjustment for community providers; increase and coordinate behavioral health services for veterans; establish a Deputy Secretary at DHMH to improve co-occurring services and outcomes; expand Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports initiatives in schools; develop a model policy prohibiting bullying, harassment and intimidation in schools; and increase enrollment in the Maryland Medical Assistance Program and the Maryland Children’s Health Program.
2007
Secured passage of legislation requiring a 30-day supply of medication for inmates with mental illnesses leaving prison, among other provisions to divert individuals from incarceration and improve community reentry. Also led a successful effort to enact legislation creating a task force to improve the cultural competency of the mental health provider network and services rendered. Supported legislation to strengthen patient rights in facilities and prohibit prone restraint, ensure that insurer network adequacy requirements cover mental health providers as well as physicians, create Senior Empowerment Zones to enable older adults to remain in the community, strengthen efforts to reduce custody relinquishments and educate the public about self-injury among youth.
2006
Secured passage of legislation requiring interdepartmental study, recommendations and reporting by December 2006 to address the needs of individuals with mental illness who come in contact with the criminal justice system. Advocated for Maryland’s participation in federal mental health transformation efforts and served on Maryland’s resulting Transformation Working Group. Supported legislation to address workforce quality and stability through a cost of living adjustment for community mental health providers, strengthen oversight of insurer panels and improve access to mental health providers and other specialists, streamline managed care procedures for hospital and residential crisis admissions, require the state to secure a federal waiver to expand access to community services for privately insured children, and increase requirements for family notification of adverse events that occur in residential treatment centers.
2005
Secured passage of legislation to improve aftercare for individuals with mental illness who are incarcerated or in state psychiatric hospitals by requiring suspension rather than termination of Medicaid, and created an interim workgroup on criminal justice and mental health issues. Won passage of bills to improve access to mental health services for the privately insured by adding psychological testing as a mandated benefit and creating a standing Joint Legislative Oversight Committee, and preserved access to the Public Mental Health System for individuals with Medicare and Medicaid who will be served under the Community Choice program, Maryland’s proposed long-term care waiver.
2004
With the Maryland Mental Health Coalition, achieved closure of Crownsville Hospital Center, after decades of advocacy efforts. Secured passage of legislation to protect access to the Public Mental Health System by requiring approval of the General Assembly before any changes can be made to the mental health carve-out, close loopholes in the law requiring that hospital savings be transferred to the community, require mental health training for assisted living managers, and increase government accountability to provide mental health services to youth in the juvenile justice system.
2003
Secured passage of legislation to create a task force to address barriers to mental health treatment for privately insured individuals, established a pharmacy access hotline for Medicaid recipients who are unable to get the medications they need, and created a task force to recommend strategies to improve care for individuals who have co-occurring mental illness and substance use disorder. Worked with the Maryland Mental Health Coalition to secure $66 million to address the community mental health services deficit. Supported legislation to address the problems faced by families who are forced to relinquish custody to get care for their children, supported the development of early childhood mental health programs and advance implementation of the federal Ticket to Work initiative.
2002
Secured passage of legislation to require establishment of a 24-hour, 7-day per week mental health crisis response system in every jurisdiction of the state. Worked with the Maryland Mental Health Coalition to secure $42 million to address the Public Mental Health System deficit. Supported legislation to improve treatment of children in the juvenile justice system, including independent monitoring of the system and establishment of juvenile detention standards. Supported legislation to add residential crisis services as a required private insurance benefit.
2001
Worked with the Maryland Mental Health Coalition to secure $30 million to eliminate a three-year deficit in the Public Mental Health System as well as $2 million for expansion of school-based mental health services. Supported successful legislation to require that consumers receive assistance in executing advance directives for mental health treatment during the hospital aftercare planning process, to ensure the review of deaths in psychiatric facilities and community mental health programs, and to provide $21 million for a new program to increase access to medications for low-income seniors and individuals with disabilities.
2000
Under the auspices of the Maryland Mental Health Coalition, established a Private Insurance Access Task Force to improve access to mental health services for individuals with private health insurance and a Workgroup on Co-occurring Disorders to improve services to individuals with both a mental health and substance abuse problem. Supported legislation to create an Advisory Council on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and to expand the tax credit for employers who hire individuals with disabilities. Worked collaboratively with On Our Own of Maryland and Baltimore Mental Health Systems to develop a consumer satisfaction pilot project.
1999
Worked with the Maryland Juvenile Justice Coalition to win enactment of legislation to improve mental health screening and assessment of youth in the juvenile justice system. Participated in Mental Hygiene Administration task forces to examine statewide need for psychiatric inpatient beds, to consider outpatient commitment, and to improve services to individuals with both a substance abuse problem and a mental illness. Worked with mental health advocates to win reenactment of the clinical review panel statute with a sunset provision and to establish a tuition assistance program for college students who work in community mental health programs.
1998
Worked with mental health advocates to win enactment of legislation to expand the Community Services Trust Fund to ensure that proceeds from the sale or lease of any mental health properties are retained in the mental health system to provide community services. Supported legislation to increase access to health care for low-income children under the Children’s Health Insurance Program, to extend until 2002 the tax credit for employers who hire individuals with disabilities, and to improve services for transitioning youth. Participated in a Mental Hygiene Administration task force to determine the statewide need for psychiatric inpatient beds.
1997
Monitored implementation of the new Public Mental Health System through the Maryland Mental Health Coalition. Worked with mental health advocates to prevent a 10% cut in the Mental Hygiene Administration FY 98 budget and to defeat legislation to restrict access to community housing for individuals with disabilities. Worked with children’s advocates to decrease expansion of residential treatment center beds and reinvest $1.3 million in community services. Supported legislation to create tax credits for employers who hire individuals with disabilities, restored SSI for children with emotional disorders, eliminate MHA regional offices.
1996
Through Mental Health Coalition on Medical Assistance Reform, ensured a carve-out of mental health services under Maryland’s 1115 Medicaid Waiver. Worked with other advocates to win enactment of legislation to create a Community Services Trust Fund to hold proceeds from the sale or lease of state facilities, and to create the Community Services Reimbursement Rate Commission. In conjunction with Maryland Kids Count, released Special Report on Mental Health and Children.
1995
Established Mental Health Coalition on Medical Assistance Reform in response to state efforts to seek a Section 1115 Medicaid Waiver. Worked with other advocates to secure passage of legislation to prevent denial of insurance coverage for the first day of emergency inpatient psychiatric admissions, required development of uniform treatment plan forms for the review of mental health and substance abuse services, developed an interagency plan for transitioning students with disabilities, and to reauthorize the law governing clinical review panels.
1994
With Coalition to End Insurance Discrimination Against Citizens with Mental Illnesses, achieved enactment of SB 756, the most comprehensive mental health parity law in the nation. Worked with mental health advocates to win a $2 million supplemental budget increase for new community services. Helped enact legislation to ensure that savings realized when state facilities downsize are used to provide community services. Successful children’s initiatives included bills to establish pooled funding for out-of-home care programs for children and programs that prevent out-of-home placements, establish a resource fund to protect funds saved when children return from out-of-state placements, and legislation to facilitate record sharing among state agencies.
1993
With Coalition to End Insurance Discrimination Against Citizens with Mental Illnesses, achieved passage of the first full mental health insurance parity bill in the nation and expanded mental health benefit levels in the new insurance package for small employers developed by the Health Care Access and Cost Commission. Worked with child advocates to reauthorize the Office of Children, Youth and Families, establish a permanent Subcabinet for Children, Youth and Families, and ban the use of corporal punishment in public schools.
1992
Worked in coalition to win approval of $9.1 million for a variety of new community services for adults and children and $3.2 million for capital funds for community programs. Achieved enactment of legislation to extend to 1995 the 65% reimbursement rate for outpatient mental health treatment. Took leadership role in advocacy efforts to pass SB 588 to bring home to Maryland more than 700 children in out-of-state placements. Organized Coalition to End Insurance Discrimination Against Citizens with Mental Illness to advocate for parity in mental health insurance coverage.