Promoting Recovery, Resilience & Self-Determination

Welcome to Philadelphia’s Department of Behavioral Health & Mental Retardation Services (DBH/MRS) Web site. The City of Philadelphia has integrated its behavioral health care and mental retardation services into one comprehensive system.

DBH/MRS components provide services through a network of agencies while collaborating with the Philadelphia School District, child welfare and judicial systems, and other stakeholders.

The DBH/MRS leadership team and our employees embrace a vision of recovery, resilience, and self-determination. We continue to shift to a model of care directed by the person in recovery. In this model, professional treatment is one aspect among many that supports people in managing their own conditions while building their own recovery resources. This recovery process should be viewed as a lifetime journey.

Transformation to a recovery orientation in both addictions and mental health becomes possible by focusing on the central role of individuals and families in responding to, managing, and overcoming these serious illnesses. This focus must be an organizing point for the entire system.

We also strive to help people with mental retardation live self-determined lives in their communities by providing quality supports and services.