• Prevention of Substance Abuse and Mental Illness

Creating communities where individuals, families, schools, faith-based organizations, and workplaces take action to promote emotional health and reduce the likelihood of mental illness, substance abuse including tobacco, and suicide. This Initiative will include a focus on the Nation’s high-risk youth, youth in Tribal communities, and military families
Lead: Fran Harding, Director, Center of Substance Abuse Prevention
Initiative Page: http://www.samhsa.gov/prevention/

• Trauma and Justice

Reducing the pervasive, harmful, and costly health impact of violence and trauma by integrating trauma-informed approaches throughout health, behavioral health, and related systems and addressing the behavioral health needs of people involved in or at risk of involvement in the criminal and juvenile justice systems.
Lead: Larke Huang, Director, Office of Behavioral Health Equity
Initiative Page: http://www.samhsa.gov/traumaJustice/

• Military Families

Supporting America’s service men and women—Active Duty, National Guard, Reserve, and Veteran—together with their families and communities by leading efforts to ensure that needed behavioral health services are accessible and that outcomes are positive.
Lead: Kathryn Power, Director, Center for Mental Health Services
Initiative Page: http://www.samhsa.gov/militaryFamilies

• Recovery Support

Partnering with people in recovery from mental and substance use disorders to guide the behavioral health system and promote individual-, program, and system-level approaches that foster health and resilience; increase permanent housing, employment, education, and other necessary supports; and reduce barriers to social inclusion.
Lead: Kathryn Power, Director, Center for Mental Health Services
Initiative Page: http://www.samhsa.gov/recovery

• Health Reform

Broadening health coverage to increase access to appropriate high-quality care and to reduce disparities that currently exist between the availability of services for substance abuse, mental disorders, and other medical conditions such as HIV/AIDS.
Lead: John O'Brien, Senior Advisor for Health Finance
Initiative Page: http://www.samhsa.gov/healthReform

• Health Information Technology

Ensuring that the behavioral health system, including States, community providers, and peer and prevention specialists, fully participates with the general health care delivery system in the adoption of Health Information Technology (HIT) and interoperable Electronic Health Records (EHR).
Lead: Westley Clark, Director, Center for Substance Abuse Treatment
Initiative Page: http://www.samhsa.gov/healthIT

• Data, Outcomes, and Quality

Realizing an integrated data strategy and a national framework for quality improvement in behavioral health care that will inform policy, measure program impact, and lead to improved quality of services and outcomes for individuals, families, and communities.
Lead: RADM Pete Delany, Director, Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality
Initiatives Page: http://www.samhsa.gov/dataOutcomes

• Public Awareness and Support

Public Awareness and Support —Increasing the understanding of mental and substance use disorders to achieve the full potential of prevention, help people recognize mental and substance use disorders and seek assistance with the same urgency as any other health condition, and make recovery the expectation.
Lead: Mark Weber, Director, Office of Communications
Initiative Page: http://www.samhsa.gov/publicAwareness