MH-CLD: Mental Health Client-Level Data from Publicly Funded Services

Data from 2013 to 2023 on clients receiving publicly funded mental health services, reported by state mental health authorities to SAMHSA. The dataset includes demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, clinical attributes, and National Outcome Measures. It is extracted and made available by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Use Cases

• Analyzing demographic disparities in mental health service access based on reported client characteristics.
• Modeling treatment episode outcomes based on clinical attributes and National Outcome Measures.
• Estimating prevalence rates of mental health diagnoses within publicly funded service populations.

Strengths

• Covers a multi-year period from 2013 to 2023.
• Includes multiple data categories: demographic, socioeconomic, clinical attributes, and outcome measures.
• Undergoes disclosure analysis and recoding to protect client confidentiality while preserving most data.

Limitations

• The dataset represents only clients receiving publicly funded services, not the general population.
• Reporting scope and state definitions for outcome measures vary, which may affect cross-state comparability.
• Some individuals have no valid mental health diagnosis reported, which could bias estimated prevalence rates if missingness is non-random.

Provenance

Source

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)

Collection Method

Data reported by providers and facilities to State Mental Health Authorities (SMHAs), which then report to SAMHSA.

Time Range

2013-2023

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-18 19:46:10; freshness should be verified.

Geography

United States (coverage varies by state)