Title 25 › CHAPTER 18 — INDIAN HEALTH CARE › SUBCHAPTER V–A — BEHAVIORAL HEALTH PROGRAMS › Part A — General Programs › § 1665a
Requires the Secretary, working through the Indian Health Service and with tribes, tribal groups, and urban Indian programs, to build a wide behavioral health prevention and treatment program that joins alcohol and drug services, social services, and mental health care. It must give guidance to federal, tribal, state, and local agencies about mental illness, self-harm, child abuse, and family violence. The law must help tribes find available services and let tribes and tribal groups create local, community-based programs that do prevention, education, referral, and treatment. It also says Indians must have the same access to behavioral health services as other U.S. citizens and allows changing or adding to existing programs. Encourages tribes and urban Indian organizations to make plans that assess how big problems are (including numbers affected and costs), what resources are needed, and how much more money is required. The Secretary must share these plans and results through national clearinghouses and give technical help in making plans and care standards. If funding exists, programs should offer a full range of care (prevention, detox, outpatient, hospitalization, intensive day treatment, residential care, transitional living, emergency shelter, case management, diagnosis, and health-promotion). Services must cover children (birth–17), adults (18–55), families, and elders (56+), including prevention, treatment, aftercare, help for co-occurring disorders, fetal alcohol issues, and treatment for sexual assault, domestic violence, abuse, and dementia as appropriate. Tribes may adopt community behavioral health plans; the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Service must help and may fund planning and admin support. The Secretary must coordinate with other federal and state agencies. Not later than 1 year after March 23, 2010, the Secretary must assess inpatient mental health needs, availability, costs, and whether unused hospital beds could become psychiatric units.
Full Legal Text
Indians, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Legislative History
Reference
Citation
25 U.S.C. § 1665a
Title 25, Indians
Last Updated
Sep 22, 2026
Release point: 119-110