With representatives from organizations across the mental health services spectrum, both public and private, here are the goals of the Mental Health Goal Group (MHGG) of the Health Action Partnership: 
1)   assess current level of resources in the community
2)   promote those resources, both private and public
3)   identify gaps in those resources
4)   work to improve the areas that are lacking, and support those in existence.
5)   support policy change to increase mental health resources throughout the community.
 
Improving access to mental health care in Jefferson County is one of several priorities of the Health Action Partnership of the Jefferson County Department of Health, a coalition of over 60 agencies committed to improving community health. 
 
The Crisis Center of Birmingham provides telephone counseling services in four distinct areas: the Crisis and Suicide Line, Teen Link, Kid's Help Line and Rape Response, primarily within Jefferson, Shelby, Blount, Walker and St. Clair counties.  The Crisis and Suicide Line program was the first such service available to the community, beginning with the agency's inception in 1970,  followed by Rape Response in 1975, Kid's Help Line in 1985 and Teen Link in 1994.
  • Crisis and Suicide Line 205-323-7777 (CSL):  The CSL program provides 24-hour/7 day per week telephone crisis counseling, information, referrals and crisis intervention to callers.
  •  Teen Link(TL):  The purpose of TL is to assist teens in problem solving.  Because adolescents are less likely to ask for help the program assures confidentiality and anonymity, providing a non-threatening way to reach out for help.
  • Kid's Help Line(KHL):  The KHL program provides trained para-professional counselors to assist children in need. 
  • Rape Response(RR):  RR offers hospital visits, phone, face-to-face counseling, educational outreach, group support and court assistance. 
Additionally, The Crisis Center now directly serves mental health consumers with Severe Mental Illness in the following programs:  Piper Place and Piper Place West.  The Piper Place Day Program’s primary mission isto assist consumers who have a diagnosis of a serious mental illness with improving their quality of life, and achieve their desired mental and behavioral health outcomes. A secondary mission of the program is to advocate for improved mental health services for all residents of Jefferson, Blount, St. Clair, Walker, and Shelby Counties, and to provide education, consultation, information and referral, and prevention services to the community.
 
Funding for this website is provided by the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham, the Health Action Partnership, the Daniel Foundation of Alabama, and the Crisis Center of Birmingham.