208/Maryland Manual

Administrations. The Office of Education and
Training for Addiction Services and a Deinstitu-
tionalization Staff and Preventive Law Staff also
report to the Assistant Secretary.

The Assistant Secretary coordinates the develop-
ment and implementation of policies, procedures,
regulations, and standards that assure delivery of
improved health services. The Assistant Secretary
develops and promotes collaborative working rela-
tionships among the organizations and programs
assigned as well as with other units within the
Department.

OFFICE OF EDUCATION AND
TRAINING FOR ADDICTION
SERVICES

Ludwig Lankford, Director

201 W. Preston St.
Baltimore 21201 Telephone: 383-3690

The Office of Education and Training for Addic-
tion Services (OETAS) was created in 1976. It
provides alcohol and drug abuse training for health
care workers and administrators who are in con-
tact with addicts. The Office's primary responsibil-
ity is to provide this training to agencies function-
ing under the auspices of the Alcoholism Control
Administration and the Drug Abuse Administra-
tion. It also provides addiction training to commu-
nity organizations, as well as to other State and
local agencies, such as local school systems. Train-
ing is offered in courses, workshops, seminars, and
specially designed agency programs (Code 1957,
Art. 41, sec. 206D).

OFFICE OF CENTRAL COMMITMENT

Robert Stephens, Chief

201 W. Preston St.
Baltimore 21201 Telephone: 383-2358

The Office of Central Commitment implements
a comprehensive services delivery program for
youth committed to the custody of the Secretary of
Health and Mental Hygiene (Courts and Judicial
Proceedings Article, secs. 3-801 through 3-833).
The Office develops departmental placement plans
and services for youth in coordination with the
Juvenile Services, Mental Hygiene, Mental Retar-
dation and Developmental Disabilities, Local
Health, Drug Abuse, Alcoholism Control, and
Preventive Medicine Administrations.

MENTAL HYGIENE
ADMINISTRATION

Alp Karahasan, M.D., Ph.D., Director
Barbara Smith Hamer, Deputy Director

201 W. Preston St.
Baltimore 21201 Telephone: 383-2695

The Mental Hygiene Administration, formerly
the Department of Mental Hygiene, was estab-
lished in 1949 to supersede the Board of Mental
Hygiene (Chapter 685, Acts of 1949). The Board,
created by Chapter 29, Acts of 1922, had carried
on and expanded the functions of the State Lunacy
Commission, established in 1886, to inspect public
and private institutions for the insane and to advise
their boards of managers. The 1949 law abolished
not only the Board of Mental Hygiene, but also the
separate governing boards of the State mental
hospitals, and gave the Department of Mental
Hygiene responsibility for the custody, care, and
treatment of mentally ill persons.

The Administration is headed by a Director,
certified in psychiatry by the American Board of
Psychiatry and Neurology and appointed by the
Secretary of Health and Mental Hygiene. The
Director is responsible for duties assigned by the
Secretary and for supervision of the hospitals and
facilities within the Administration.

Under the provisions of the Maryland Commu-
nity Mental Health Services Act of 1966, the
Director of Mental Hygiene, with the approval of
the Secretary of Health and Mental Hygiene, is
empowered to make State grants-in-aid to further
community mental health services (Chapter 125,
Acts of 1966). The Director supervises the pro-
grams receiving these grants-in-aid. The Act also
provided for the establishment of local mental
health advisory committees (Code Health-General
Article, sec. 10-208).

To improve continuity of care between commu-
nity and hospital programs, the Administration
has adopted a regionalized structure. Assistant
Directors serve Eastern, Western, Southern and
Central Maryland. Their regional offices imple-
ment policies to shorten length of hospital stays,
and improve community mental health programs
for the severely psychiatrically ill.

ADVISORY COUNCIL ON MENTAL
HYGIENE

Chairperson: Marjorie Sue Diehl, 1987