About CLMHD

Who We Are

The New York State Conference of Local Mental Hygiene Directors is a statewide membership organization that was statutorily incorporated under Article 41 of the Mental Hygiene Law in 1976.

The Conference is comprised of local mental hygiene directors and commissioners in all of the 57 counties and the City of New York. The conference advances state and local policies, practices, laws, regulation and funding for the purpose of ensuring comprehensive, integrated and cost-effective systems of care to meet the needs of those persons, and their families, affected by mental illness, developmental disability and/or chemical dependency.

County mental hygiene directors and commissioners oversee the planning and financing of each county's network of mental health, mental retardation, alcoholism and substance abuse services. The membership represents collective county governmental interests on mental hygiene policy and budgetary initiatives.

The Conference has statutory responsibility to comment upon proposed rules, regulations and policies involving local mental hygiene services plans and programs. The Conference is also represented, sometimes through statutory requirement, on a variety of statewide advisory councils, task forces and advocacy organizations, through which it provides advice and counsel for the planning and financing of community-based mental hygiene services.

Through its many representational roles, the Conference works in cooperation with the Executive, the Legislature, service providers and consumer groups, to direct and unify community-based priorities where the majority of service networks converge -- at the local level.

As overseer of a publicly subsidized and accountable system of local mental hygiene services, the Conference maintains active coordination with state and local entities, and helps streamline mental hygiene services delivery in the locality.

Vision Statement

The Conference, with the full participation of all members and in partnership with the people it serves, provides statewide leadership in planning, program development, implementation, and evaluation of a broad array of mental hygiene services. Recognizing its regional diversity that ranges from urban to rural interests, the Conference speaks with one voice to other stakeholders about the statewide needs of mental hygiene consumers. Through its membership, the Conference responds at the local level to the mental hygiene needs of all residents, promoting environments that benefit entire communities.

Mission Statement

The New York State Conference of Local Mental Hygiene Directors is the statutorily authorized member organization of all county/City directors/commissioners of community services . Its mission is to propose, initiate, and advance federal, state, county/City, and public policies, practices, laws, regulations and financing, and to promote responsive, comprehensive, integrated, research-based, cost-effective systems of care to meet the needs of people, and their families, affected by mental illness, chemical dependency, or developmental disabilities.