Cover image: Transforming NC's Mental Health and Substance Use Systems

Transforming North Carolina’s Mental Health and Substance Use Systems: A Report from the NCIOM Task Force on Mental Health and Substance Use

Published October 25, 2016

NCIOM Task Force on Mental Health and Substance Use

Abstract

Mental health and substance use disorders are among the top conditions for disability and burdens of disease, as well as cost to families, employers, and publicly-funded health systems in the United States and worldwide. In the spring of 2016, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory issued an executive order declaring, “mental illness and substance use disorders are among the biggest healthcare challenges that our state will face over the next decade.”

 

The NCIOM Task Force on Mental Health and Substance Use, funded by the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust, developed recommendations to increase and improve community-based and evidence-informed prevention, treatment, and recovery services and supports for individuals with mental health and substance use disorders. The Task Force focused on recommendations to support a full continuum of community-based mental health and substance use prevention, treatment, and recovery services for all North Carolinians, as these services are essential to keeping people healthy in their home communities and assisting people who are transitioning back into the community after a crisis or in-patient treatment.