Advance Letter

Attachment A.6— 2020 N-MHSS Advance Letter

Substance Abuse and Mental

Health Services Administration

March 2020

Dear Facility Director:

In early May, you will receive a packet from Mathematica Policy Research, Princeton, NJ, for the 2020 National Mental Health Services Survey (N-MHSS). This annual survey, sponsored by the Federal government’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and conducted by Mathematica Policy Research, collects data from all known mental health treatment facilities in the United States and its jurisdictions. Your voluntary participation in the N-MHSS is critical to its success, and to ensure that mental health treatment services in your area are accurately represented.

If you completed the 2019 N-MHSS, many questions will be prefilled. To save you time, for the 2020 N-MHSS, the following features are available:

• You will have the ability to go back and change answers, if necessary.

• Multiple questions are grouped together on the same web page.

• If you are responsible for completing the N-MHSS for more than one location, you can now complete multiple web surveys in a single session.

The packet to arrive in early May will include instructions for completing the questionnaire online, through a secure password-protected website. If your facility no longer provides mental health treatment services, has had an address change, or if you have any questions about the survey, please call the N-MHSS helpline at

1-866-778-9752 or send an email to [email protected].

We look forward to your participation in the 2020 N-MHSS!

Sincerely,

Herman A. Alvarado

Data Collection Manager

Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality SAMHSA

Note: If your organization offers treatment services at more than one location, you may receive a duplicate letter for another facility at another location. The N-MHSS is designed to collect information about a single facility at a single location, that is, the facility whose name and address is indicated on the envelope. On the web, you will be able to complete the survey for multiple locations at the same time.