South Carolina Department of Mental Health

The South Carolina Department of Mental Health (SCDMH) is dedicated to supporting the recovery of people with mental illnesses. As South Carolina's public mental health system, it is one of the largest hospital and community-based systems of care in South Carolina. Its numerous programs, services, and divisions are designed to ensure that South Carolinians in need receive the right treatment, at the right place, at the right time from a robust, interconnected, evidence-based system of care.

SCDMH was awarded the five-year SAMHSA Zero Suicide Grant in 2018.  With the support of this grant SCDMH hosted five cohorts of Zero Suicide Academies focusing on community mental health centers, hospital systems, FQHC's, Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Authorities, and SC Department of Corrections.  SCDMH hosted several train-the-trainer events for ASIST, safeTALK, and AMSR to support the organizations in training both their clinical and non-clinical staff.  It also hosted several trainings for clinical staff to learn DBT, CBT-SP, CAMS, ABFT, and suicide2Hope to build up the workforce for both SCDMH and community partners to treat people who are at risk of suicide.  The Office of Suicide Prevention housed within SCDMH works support the growth of Zero Suicide across the state.