Celebrating over 65 Years of Keeping the Promise
The Tennessee Association of Mental Health Organizations (TAMHO) is the leading statewide trade association representing Community Mental Health Centers (CMHCs) and other nonprofit organizations that provide essential behavioral health services. Our member organizations have been dedicated to helping individuals with mental health and substance use conditions across Tennessee, ensuring that people of all ages and backgrounds have access to the care they need, when they need it.
Since the 1950s, TAMHO member organizations have served as the backbone of Tennessee's publicly funded, community-based behavioral health system. They are also the primary provider network for TennCare, Tennessee's Medicaid program, helping to meet the state's mental health and substance use treatment needs.
TAMHO's MISSION
TAMHO's mission is simple yet powerful: we strive to serve our members, promote the advancement of effective behavioral health services, and advocate for individuals in need of care. We work tirelessly to ensure that mental health and substance use services are available, accessible, and effective for all Tennesseans.
How TAMHO Achieves Its Mission
Each year, the TAMHO Board of Directors develops an agenda aimed at improving the quality of treatment and support services for those living with mental health challenges and substance use disorders. Our efforts focus on increasing access to these services throughout Tennessee, ensuring that no one is left without the care they deserve. To implement this agenda, we rely on a network of committees and task forces made up of over 400 dedicated staff members from TAMHO member organizations. These groups collaborate regularly to identify key challenges from the provider's perspective and work together to develop practical solutions.
TAMHO’s policies and initiatives guide our work as we partner with state and national associations, advocacy groups, and managed care companies. Together, we are advancing effective behavioral health services and ensuring that individuals in need of care have access to the resources and support they deserve, all across Tennessee.
Member Organization Websites
List of Services
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AIM Center Write a description for this list item and include information that will interest site visitors. For example, you may want to describe a team member's experience, what makes a product special, or a unique service that you offer.
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Alliance Healthcare ServicesList Item 2
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Ballad Health Write a description for this list item and include information that will interest site visitors. For example, you may want to describe a team member's experience, what makes a product special, or a unique service that you offer.List Item 3
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Carey Counseling Center, Inc. Write a description for this list item and include information that will interest site visitors. For example, you may want to describe a team member's experience, what makes a product special, or a unique service that you offer.List Item 4
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Centerstone Write a description for this list item and include information that will interest site visitors. For example, you may want to describe a team member's experience, what makes a product special, or a unique service that you offer.
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Frontier Health Write a description for this list item and include information that will interest site visitors. For example, you may want to describe a team member's experience, what makes a product special, or a unique service that you offer.
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Generations Mental Health Center Write a description for this list item and include information that will interest site visitors. For example, you may want to describe a team member's experience, what makes a product special, or a unique service that you offer.
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McNabb Center
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Park Center Write a description for this list item and include information that will interest site visitors. For example, you may want to describe a team member's experience, what makes a product special, or a unique service that you offer.
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Pathways Behavioral Health Services Write a description for this list item and include information that will interest site visitors. For example, you may want to describe a team member's experience, what makes a product special, or a unique service that you offer.
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Peninsula - a Division of Parkwest Medical Center Write a description for this list item and include information that will interest site visitors. For example, you may want to describe a team member's experience, what makes a product special, or a unique service that you offer.
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Professional Care Services of West TN, Inc. Write a description for this list item and include information that will interest site visitors. For example, you may want to describe a team member's experience, what makes a product special, or a unique service that you offer.
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Quinco Mental Health Center Write a description for this list item and include information that will interest site visitors. For example, you may want to describe a team member's experience, what makes a product special, or a unique service that you offer.
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Ridgeview Behavioral Health Services Write a description for this list item and include information that will interest site visitors. For example, you may want to describe a team member's experience, what makes a product special, or a unique service that you offer.
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River Valley Health Write a description for this list item and include information that will interest site visitors. For example, you may want to describe a team member's experience, what makes a product special, or a unique service that you offer.
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Tennessee Mental Health Consumers' Association Write a description for this list item and include information that will interest site visitors. For example, you may want to describe a team member's experience, what makes a product special, or a unique service that you offer.
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Tennessee Voices Write a description for this list item and include information that will interest site visitors. For example, you may want to describe a team member's experience, what makes a product special, or a unique service that you offer.
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Vanderbilt Community Mental Health Center Write a description for this list item and include information that will interest site visitors. For example, you may want to describe a team member's experience, what makes a product special, or a unique service that you offer.
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Volunteer Behavioral Health Care System
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WestCare Tennessee Write a description for this list item and include information that will interest site visitors. For example, you may want to describe a team member's experience, what makes a product special, or a unique service that you offer.
History
Founded in 1958 as the Tennessee Association of Mental Health Centers (TAMHC), the organization initially represented eleven community mental health centers that were supported largely through federal staffing grants by the mid-1960s. In 1971, TAMHC was incorporated and its membership had expanded to nineteen community mental health centers; by 1983, membership included thirty-three community mental health centers. The name of the organization was changed in 1995 to the Tennessee Association of Mental Health Organizations (TAMHO), action that was taken in response to the development of broader corporate structures by the member organizations as mergers an affiliations began to occur.
The TAMHO membership has responded to unprecedented change in the behavioral health arena during the past decade, yet it has remained true to the community-focused mission that has been important to thousands of Tennessee consumers and families for over forty years. From 1990-1995, the TAMHO member organizations re-engineered the service continuum to provide state-of-the-art community support programs for the severely and persistently mentally ill. Supported by grants from the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation (TDMHMR) and a newly-instituted Medicaid fee-for-service payment system offering differential rates, services such as targeted case management, psychosocial rehabilitation, and supported employment programs became available to consumers throughout the state. The work of the TAMHO member organizations during this period made it possible for the State to implement the Mental Health Master Plan, one of the most successful program initiatives for the mentally ill in Tennessee history.
With the advent of the TennCare Partners Program in 1996, the TAMHO member organizations faced a drastic paradigm shift as the historical leadership role played by TDMHMR in developing state-level behavioral health policy was transferred to private managed behavioral health companies. Within a very short period of time, the CMHC system was reconfigured to provide a more efficient and effective provider network for contracting with the TennCare Partners Program managed behavioral health companies. While three regional "megacenters" were created through mergers, two other CMHCs became a part of major acute care healthcare/hospital systems, and others remained independent. Each individual corporation thus focused on providing the right mix of high quality behavioral health services as efficiently s possible within its respective market area. The efforts made to respond to the State's "privatization" of behavioral health services and prepare for functioning within a managed care model resulted in the TAMHO member organizations serving as the primary provider network for the TennCare Partners Program managed care companies. Today, there continues to be available through the statewide network of TAMHO member organizations a wide range of behavioral health services and programs. Many TAMHO member organizations have expanded services, particularly in the children's and geriatric services areas, all the while continuing to provide the core of the service continuum that had been proven to be effective under the Mental Health Master Plan. Over 220,000 adults and children receive services from TAMHO member organizations each year at one of more than 235 sites throughout the state.
Purposes
- To protect and preserve the capability of member organizations to effectively provide a comprehensive program of high-quality, professionally administered behavioral health services to all persons in need of care.
- To serve as a forum for the sharing and exchange of information, ideas, problems, and solutions in areas of mutual interest and concern to members.
- To represent the members' perspective to public policy decision-makers and to influence the development or modification of public policy in the interest of improving the behavioral health system in Tennessee.
- To develop educational and training seminars for the continuing education needs of the members.
- To develop and administer group and shared products to benefit the member organizations.
- To conduct an organized public information program as a means of improving the general public's awareness and understanding of he concerns of member organizations.
- To plan and implement programs that advocate for people in need of mental health and/or addiction services and improve the general public's awareness and understanding of such behavioral health issues.
- To initiate activities to honor those individuals and organizations in the behavioral health arena deserving of special recognition.
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