Vision, Mission, and Health Equity Statement
Mission: Our mission is to promote behavioral health and wellness among the Commonwealth’s residents. We are committed to statewide coordination and implementation of innovative, evidence-informed, data-driven, and trauma-informed strategies to advance the promotion of behavioral health and the prevention of mental health conditions, including substance use disorders; we aim to eliminate stigma, racial discrimination, and social inequities to strengthen the Commonwealth’s residents’ overall quality of life.
Vision: Our vision is a thriving and resilient Commonwealth where behavioral health promotion and prevention are fully integrated into every aspect of community well-being, fostering a culture of health equity and empowerment where all can engage fully in life.
Health Equity Statement: We are committed to ensuring fair and just pathways for behavioral health promotion and prevention initiatives for all, centering those with historically marginalized identities, including people who identify as Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC), people with disabilities, people who are incarcerated, veterans, LGBTQ+, and non-English speaking individuals. We prioritize accessibility, timeliness, affordability, cultural sensitivity, high-quality initiatives, and eliminating inequities through community engagement, trauma-informed initiatives, and data-driven approaches. We advocate for policies that support behavioral health equity for all.
Our data driven approach
During its first year in operations, OBHPP worked with DMA Health Strategies Inc. to lead a statewide assessment to explore current behavioral health promotion and prevention initiatives. This environmental scan used a three-pronged approach to identify gaps across activities and uncovered opportunities for collaboration:
- A landscape scan
- A statewide request for information, and
- A series of community listening sessions
Advancing Health Equity in Massachusetts (AHEM)
Focusing our efforts in the areas of the state experiencing the greatest disparities. As we go through and examine our existing investments and programs, it is important to have a clear, data-driven understanding of where health disparities are most profound. Knowing this will enable us to focus our efforts.
Background & Legislative History
Today, OBHPP works in close partnership with both the Commission and EOHHS to advance positive population-level impacts across the Commonwealth. Pursuant to its enabling statute, OBHPP is responsible for:
- The coordination of all executive office, state agency, independent agency, and state commission activities that promote behavioral health and wellness.
- Setting internal goals for the behavioral health promotion and programming for behavioral health prevention, integrating health equity principles, and applying a health equity framework to all its duties and obligations; and
- Evaluating the effectiveness of promotion and prevention initiatives and reporting annually on its progress and the Commonwealth’s overall progress in: i) promoting behavioral health, ii) preventing substance use, iii) preventing suicide, iv) preventing violence, and v) using quantifiable measures and comparative benchmarks.