Our Story and Mission

Our Story

For over 70 years, the Mental Health Association is steadfastly committed to the core tenets that mental illness is real and, more importantly, that recovery is possible. Our dedication to all of our consumers remains unwavering and our impact and capacity for improving the quality of life for individuals with mental illness only stand to grow in the weeks, months and years ahead.

The Mental Health Association, first and foremost… above all and beyond all… is a service provider that is committed to compassionate, dignified and empowering treatment as we guide our society’s most vulnerable citizens along their individual paths to Wellness and Recovery. We are an agency that provides services to children and adolescents who may have experienced trauma and/or other behavioral health challenges.

We are an agency that embraces the faith-based community as a powerful resource in holistically addressing the needs of those we serve from many different perspectives.

We are an agency that provides housing to the homeless… hope for individuals caught up in the criminal justice system who need treatment, not incarceration… and pathways to a better tomorrow through partial care, physical health services and employment training.

Serving Northern New Jersey, we are one of the largest service areas in the State. And we plan to continue building upon the combined legacies of the Mental Health Association of Essex County, which was established in 1950, and the Mental Health Association of Morris County, which was established in 1953. These two agencies merged together in 2017 to form a stronger, more comprehensive behavioral health provider.

We are proud of our accomplished past and we look forward to even greater success in our future as we continue in our mission of serving our society’s most vulnerable citizens.