Mental Health Clinical Center

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The VAMHCS is a dynamic, multidivisional health care system consisting of two Divisions (Baltimore and Perry Point), Community-Based Outpatient Clinics (Cambridge and Glen Burnie, Fort Howard, Loch Raven, and Pocomoke City) and a freestanding, 120-bed nursing home (Loch Raven), all located within a 50-mile radius. VAMHCS has approximately 9,000 admissions and 500,000 outpatient visits per year and serves as a training facility highly affiliated with the University of Maryland School of Medicine. As such, the VAMHCS provides the full range of medical, surgical, and mental health services across inpatient and outpatient settings, domiciliaries and nursing home care programs. The complexity is heightened by the fact that the VAMHCS has nearly every specially funded mental health program in the VA system, in addition to many specialized medical programs.

The Mental Health Clinical Center is the largest Clinical Center within the VA Maryland Health Care System, with a $28 million budget, and is organized into five Sub-Product Lines: Acute Inpatient Mental Health; Sustained Inpatient Treatment; Residential Treatment; Community (Outpatient) Mental Health; and Special Programs: Addictions and Trauma. Mental health activities are conducted at all Divisions and sites. Mental health professionals assigned across the various Sub-Product Lines consists of a staff of over 300 individuals, including psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, nurses, addiction therapists, vocational rehabilitation specialists, physician assistants, etc. There are two major training programs coordinated within MHCC: a multiply affiliated Psychology Internship (Baltimore and Perry Point) accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA), and a Psychiatric Residency Program, affiliated with the University of Maryland Medical School. In addition, training is provided within the Mental Health Clinical Center for students of social work, nursing, occupational therapy, physician assistants and other allied health professions. The Mental Health Clinicla Center is also responsible for providing overall coordination and oversight of the VA Maryland Health Care System Employee Assistance Program (EAP), providing services to all VAMHCS employees. The VA Maryland Health Care System is also the home to the VISN 5 Mental Illness Research Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC), one of only 8 national MIRECCs funded across the VA system.

Since 1996, the VA Maryland Health Care System has lived through an integration of three previously independent facilities and a reorganization of the resulting medical center's administrative structure. In 1999, The Mental Health Program was then organized as a Service Line under a VISN structure and, as a VAMHCS team, changed the face of VA mental health in Maryland and strengthened the continuum of care across the VISN. We returned to the VAMHCS Medical Center Structure as a Clinical Center again in January, 2005. Thanks to the support and dedication of our excellent clinical and administrative staff within the Mental Health Clinical Center, we have accomplished a great deal in the last decade. We can all take pride in knowing that through our hard work and contributions we serve as a leader throughout the Department of Veterans Affairs in providing outstanding mental health care to our nation's veterans in an environment that supports education and research.