Behavioral Health Coordinating Council (BHCC)

The HHS Behavioral Health Coordinating Council (BHCC) is a coordinating body within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services which was established in 2010 by the HHS Secretary. The BHCC’s chief goals are to share information and identify and facilitate collaborative, action-oriented approaches to address the HHS behavioral health agenda without duplication of effort across the Department. Co-chaired by the Assistant Secretary for Health and the Administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Council currently has the following subcommittees:

• Communications
• Marijuana
• Prescription Drug Abuse
• Primary Care/Behavioral Health Integration
• Serious Mental Illness
• Trauma and Early Intervention
• Behavioral Health Quality Measures

The subcommittees develop projects with clear goals, provide guidance to achieve steady progress and measurable outcomes, and develop key policy messages. The projects and activities build upon existing activities in the proposed areas and are consistent with other important HHS and Federal strategies and initiatives, such as Healthy People, the U.S. Preventive Task Force, and the National Drug Control Strategy. Ad hoc subcommittees are formed as common behavioral health issues need to be addressed together across HHS.  For example, a workforce subcommittee was formed to look at professional issues within the field.