Adult Mental Health (AMH)

Our Mission: Work in partnership with local communities to protect the vulnerable, promote strong and economically self-sufficient families, and advance personal and family recovery and resiliency.

Chapter 394, Florida Statutes (F.S.) authorizes and directs "the Department of Children and Families to evaluate, research, plan, and recommend to the Governor and the Legislature programs designed to reduce the occurrence, severity, duration, and disabling aspects of mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders."

In other words, the Department of Children and Families Office of Substance Abuse and Mental Health is responsible for planning, managing, and evaluating a statewide program of behavioral health services and supports, including community programs, crisis services, state residential treatment facilities, and children’s behavioral health services. The public behavioral health system is funded by federal block grant dollars and the Florida Legislature.

Though the state directly operates some of its mental health treatment facilities, the Department contracts for community behavioral health services through regional systems of care called Managing Entities (MEs). These entities do not provide direct services; rather, they allow the Department's funding to be tailored to the specific behavioral health needs in the various regions of Florida.

The Department's publicly funded behavioral health services and supports responds to people's needs, builds on their strengths, and is outcome-based. In other words, people served in the public behavioral health system should believe they are better off because of it. Their lives should reflect that they are living successfully in their communities.