Maryland Behavioral Health Coalition

Maryland’s oldest and most impactful vehicle for largescale behavioral health policy reform, the Maryland Behavioral Health Coalition (MBHC) brings together organizations representing consumers and families, service providers, behavioral health professionals, hospitals, health systems and more in support of policies and system reforms designed to ensure all Marylanders have access to high-quality mental health and substance use care.

Read the coalition’s 2026 Keep the Door Open policy agenda

Our Impact

The Maryland Behavioral Health Coalition has a long history of success, including the following major policy victories. 

• Primary Care Access – Passed legislation in 2023 requiring Maryland Medicaid to cover mental health and substance use services delivered via the Collaborative Care Model, which improves the quality of those services when delivered in primary care settings.
• Specialty Care Access – Passed legislation in 2023 requiring the development of a statewide network of Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHC) designed to improve access to comprehensive, coordinated community mental health and substance use care.
• Behavioral Health Workforce – Passed legislation in 2023 establishing a Behavioral Health Workforce Investment Fund and requiring a comprehensive assessment of Maryland’s mental health and substance use workforces.
• Public Behavioral Health System Funding – Secured multiyear, multimillion dollar funding increases in 2019 and 2017 for community mental health and substance use care and successfully prevented funding reductions on numerous occasions.  
• Crisis Response Services – Led efforts in 2002 to establish Maryland’s behavioral health crisis response system and spearheaded numerous successful initiatives since then to enhance and expand access to these services. 
• Mental Health Parity – Led the successful effort in 1993 to pass the first-in-the-nation mental health parity law, a precursor to the federal law, and have worked since that time to improve insurer compliance. 

Current Members

• Adventist Healthcare
• Affiliated Sante Group
• American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Maryland
• Baltimore City Substance Abuse Directorate
• Behavioral Health System Baltimore
• B’More Clubhouse
• CarePoint Response
• Carroll County Youth Services Bureau
• Catholic Charities
• Chesapeake Voyagers
• Children’s National Hospital
• Community Behavioral Health Association of Maryland
• Cornerstone Montgomery
• Disability Rights Maryland
• EveryMind
• Gaudenzia
• Grassroots Crisis Intervention
• Greater Washington Society for Clinical Social Work
• Health Care for the Homeless
• Horizon Foundation
• Hudson Behavioral Health
• Inseparable
• Institutes for Behavior Resources/REACH Health
• James’ Place
• Jewish Community Services
• Key Point Health Services
• Legal Action Center
• Licensed Clinical Professional Counselors of Maryland
• Maryland Alliance for Sensible Drug Policy
• Maryland Addiction Directors Council
• Maryland Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence
• Maryland Association of Behavioral Health Authorities
• Maryland Association of Youth Service Bureaus
• Maryland Coalition of Families
• Maryland and DC Society for Addiction Medicine
• Maryland Hospital Association
• Maryland Psychiatric Society
• Maryland Psychological Association
• Maryland Rural Health Association
• Mental Health Association of Frederick County
• Mental Health Association of Maryland
• Mid Shore Behavioral Health
• Montgomery County Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health
• National Alliance on Mental Illness, Maryland
• National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Maryland
• Nexus Woodbourne Family Healing
• Office on Mental Health/Core Service Agency of Harford County
• On Our Own of Maryland
• People Encouraging People
• Powell Recovery Center
• Primary Care Coalition
• Pro Bono Counseling
• Rock Creek Foundation
• Sheppard Pratt
• Wells House

To join the Maryland Behavioral Health Coalition, or for more information, please contact:

Dan Martin
Chief Public Policy Officer
443-901-1550, ext. 208
dmartin@mhamd.org