CHAPTER 1

Introduction

Preparation of the Supplement

In February 2000, the Surgeon General commissioned this Supplement to examine racial and ethnic minority mental health. Accordingly, it selectively expands on parts of the main report, Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General (DHHS, 1999).

As was the case with that report, 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 the lead operating division for preparing the Supplement. SAMHSA’s Center for Mental Health Services worked in consultation with the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) of the National Institutes of Health to develop this Supplement under the guidance of the Surgeon General, Dr. David Satcher.