In September 1997, the Office of the Surgeon General, with the approval of the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, authorized the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to serve as lead operating division for preparing the first Surgeon General’s Report on Mental Health. SAMSHA’s Center for Mental Health Services worked in partnership with the National Institute of Mental Health of the National Institutes of Health to develop this report under the guidance of Surgeon General David Satcher. These Federal partners established a Planning Board comprising individuals representing a broad range of expertise in mental health, including academicians, mental health professionals, researchers in neuroscience and service delivery, and self-identified consumers of mental health services and family members of consumers of mental health services. Also included on the Planning Board were individuals representing Federal operating divisions, offices, centers, and institutes and private nonprofit foundations with interests in mental health.