National Academies of Sciences, Engineering & Medicine (NASEM) - Blueprint For A National Prevention Infrastructure To Address Behavioral Health Disorders: A Consensus Study Preventing substance use and other mental health disorders (i.e., behavioral health disorders) is essential to improving human and public health. Years of research on the epidemiology and etiology of behavioral health conditions has resulted in progress in our understanding of risk and protective factors. While this foundational research has been translated into effective prevention strategies, not all strategies have not been widely translated into effective practice One of the biggest barriers to the wide-scale implementation of behavioral health prevention interventions is the lack of infrastructure at the national and state levels to support this work. Prevention programs are often embedded in broader societal systems or settings (e.g., schools, justice settings, social service settings, community behavioral health centers) and are, therefore, competing with other services for time and resources. There are also infrastructural barriers to program implementation, including limited financing and workforce to support the delivery of primary prevention. In addition, those on the ground, doing the work, may not always have access to or knowledge of information about evidence-based prevention programs. This may result in state agencies distributing federal and state funds they receive for prevention to localities without much guidance on how it can most effectively be used. NIH proposes a consensus study to provide a roadmap of steps needed to develop and finance a sustainable infrastructure at the national and/or state level for implementing evidence-based interventions for preventing behavioral disorders. The roadmap would outline the necessary supports and steps to bridge the gap between evidence-based prevention interventions and their uptake and incorporation into clinical practice and community health.