NASMHPD is an organization representing the interests of the nation’s state mental health agencies. NASMHPD members - the commissioners and directors of the 55 state and territorial mental health agencies - also appoint their directors of programs to serve on divisions, councils, and workgroups. There are five standing divisions for special populations (Children, Youth & Families; Financing and Medicaid; Forensic; Older Persons; and Legal) and a Medical Directors Council.

The purpose of these entities is to provide technical assistance and expert consultation to the Commissioners/Directors on issues specific to those populations. Each of the divisions and the Medical Directors Council has a Commissioner Division Advisor.

In its early days, NASMHPD maintained a research division that was reconstituted in 1987 as the NASMHPD Research Institute, Inc. (NRI), a separate non-profit organization. The NRI provides the evaluation and data analysis capacity to NASMHPD. The NRI's distinctive competencies include performance measurement systems; data collection and analysis; program assessment; evaluation design and methodology; policy analysis; evidence based practices; information systems development and implementation; human and technical network development and management; knowledge management; and technical assistance on these and related topics.

NASMHPD has formal affiliations with the National Association of Consumer/Survivor Mental Health Administrators (NAC/SMHA), an organization that represents the Directors of the offices of consumer affairs within state mental health agencies and with the National Coalition on Mental Health and Deaf Individuals (NCMHDI). The NCMHDI is a non-profit corporation established in 2008 to provide leadership and support in the areas of public mental health and deaf and hard of hearing populations in the United States.

NASMHPD also has an affiliation with the National Association of Reimbursement Officers (NARO), an organization that provides an information exchange for professionals involved in state and local government reimbursement operations for services provided to persons with behavioral disabilities.

NASMHPD is affiliated with the Multi-State Disaster Behavioral Health Consortium, a nationwide collaboration between State Mental Health Authorities (SMHAs) to foster dialogue and cooperation in the area of disaster and mental health services.

NASMHPD has a formal affiliation with the approximately 240 state psychiatric hospitals, which include hospitals for children, adults, older persons, and people who have entered the mental health system via the court system.

For more information on these various groups and organizations, click on one of the links at right or e-mail us at info@nasmhpd.org.