Division of Public Psychiatry (Comprehensive Community Mental Health Center)

The mission of the Division of Public Psychiatry is to promote patient care, research, and education in the field of serious mental illness and to provide innovative treatment and services for person with schizophrenia, mood disorders, severe anxiety disorders and co-occurring substance abuse disorders. It provides individual and group therapy services, as well as neuropsychological evaluation. The Division also houses the Intake and Evaluation Clinic, the Psychopharmacology Clinic, the Engel Day Treatment Program, and the Rehabilitative Day Program.

The Division’s Community Psychiatry Program is one of the largest ambulatory clinics at UAB, serving over 4,000 adults residing in the catchment area of central Jefferson County. This program’s Research and Evaluation of Assertive Community Treatment is a nationally acclaimed model of assertive community treatment. The Community Psychiatry Program also developed one of the first co-occurring disorder programs for persons with serious mental illness and substance abuse disorders. In conjunction with the School of Public Health, it has also been a primary site for a $21 million NIMH Genetics Grant.

The provision of housing for persons with serious mental illnesses who are also chronically homeless has become a major goal for the Division. Recent awards from HUD to provide supportive permanent housing will enable the collaboration of two evidence based practices (Assertive Community Treatment and the Supportive Housing Program) while at the same time addressing a major public policy issue for Birmingham.

Finally, the Division has established the Bryce Scholars Program, a collaborative partnership with the Alabama Department of Mental Health to enhance recruitment and retention of psychiatric residents into the field of public psychiatry.

Approved by: Jason Neel, Website Administrator

Date: July 19, 2007

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