Behavioral Health

The Behavioral Health Program is a regulatory program that licenses Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder programs and certifies Employee Assistance Program. The statutory authority for Mental Health licensing is 34-B MRS §3601 and §3603. The statutory authority for Substance Use Disorder licensing is 5 MRS §20005(6) and §20024, 22 MRS §42(1), §8002, and 22-A MRS §205(2). The statutory authority for Employee Assistance Program certification is 26 MRS §683.

Behavioral Health Adopted Rule (PDF)

Behavioral Health FAQs

How to Apply

To apply to have an agency licensed or renewed or to have a company EAP become certified, complete the appropriate application and submit it with the required documentation and fees as detailed in the application form. These application forms are fillable. Please save the form to your computer and complete it by typing the required information into the fields provided. You can then print your completed form, sign it, and submit via mail.

Mental Health Agency Application (PDF) Rev 10/28/2024

Substance Use Disorder Treatment Agency Application (PDF) Rev 10/28/2024

Employee Assistance Program Application (PDF)  Rev 2/2019

Guidance on developing this annual report required for the renewal of an EAP certificate can be found here:  EAP Annual Report Guideline (PDF).

Behavioral Health Organizations

A Behavioral Health Organization is a person, firm, association, or corporation providing mental health or substance use disorder treatment services, or both, to clients in Maine. A Behavioral Health Organization can hold a mental health license, substance use disorder treatment license, or both. The licenses will not be integrated at this time, but co-occurring services can be provided. If you offer both mental health and substance use disorder treatment, you will need to use separate applications.

Changes to modules and services that will reflect on licenses:

Mental Health:

Modules: Outpatient Services, Crisis Services, Community Support Services and Residential Services

  • There is no longer Emergency Services as a module. This has changed to Crisis Services.
  • Residential: Crisis Residential is no longer it’s own module and now falls under Residential Programs as a service.
  • Agencies can now add IOP to their mental health license. This is a service under Outpatient Service Module.

Substance Use Disorder Treatment:

Modules: Outpatient Services, Crisis Services, Community Support Services and Residential Services and DEEP

  • There is no longer a module for Non-Residential IOP. This now falls under outpatient services module as a service.
  • There is a new Module for Community Support Services for the service of case management.
  • DEEP is not listed as a module but stays as a module and a service.
  • Crisis Services module has been added.

Behavioral Health Organizations must comply with the Rights of Recipients of Mental Health Services for Adults & Children.

Employee Assistance Programs

An Employee Assistance Program for employers with established substance use disorder testing programs that employ more than 20 people full-time must be certified. Employee Assistance Program Rules (Word)

Water Testing Requirements Due with Applications 

All locations or sites with private wells are required to complete the Basic Safety Test (TSA) of their well water prior to filing an initial or renewal application. A copy of the test results must be submitted to DLC with those applications.

Water test kits can be ordered from the Health and Environmental Testing Laboratory at the following web site: https://apps1.web.maine.gov/cgi-bin/WebShop/public/index?store_id=10/

Waivers

Agencies can apply for a waiver of specific regulations that are not mandated by state or federal law, and do not violate resident rights by submitting a waiver request application (PDF).