Changes in the Availability of Community-Based Mental Health Care for Various Population Groups from 2014 to 2020

This brief uses data from the National Mental Health Services Survey (N-MHSS), a census of specialty mental health treatment facilities in the United States. The N-MHSS collects data about facilities annually and gathers additional information from the facilities in even-numbered years about the number of clients served and certain client characteristics. In 2020, the N-MHSS collected data from March to November, the first eight months of the public health emergency, providing a window into mental health services during this period. This brief reports on trends in (1) the number and geographic distribution of facilities that offered outpatient treatment (OT) or partial hospitalization/day treatment (PH/DT) from 2014 to 2020, (2) changes over time in the number and characteristics of clients served by these facilities, (3) support for services in languages other than English, and (4) accepted forms of payment.