The goal of SMHC consists of implementation of mental health policies, superintendence of public health in order to reduce the incidence of mental disorders, to improve public and individual mental health, to promote healthy styles of life.

THE MAIN OBJECTIVES OF SMHC:

to coordinate public mental health care;
to coordinate primary out patient mental health care;
to monitor and evaluate population's mental health and contributory factors of influence;
to enhance and educate mental health in population.

FUNCTIONS PERFORMED BY SMHC FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ABOVE OBJECTIVES:

to participate within competence in implementation of the Lithuanian Health Programme in the sphere of mental health and mental health care;
on behalf of the Ministry of Health to represent the stand of the Republic of Lithuania at EU expert commissions and task groups on public mental health and mental health care matters;
to draw up within competence drafts of legal acts on public health care;
to superintend methodologically within competence institutes of public health care, facilities of primary out patient mental health care, institutions of state and local government on matters of mental health, smoking, alcohol and drug abuse;
to monitor and examine within competence population's mental health and contributory factors of influence, to accumulate and analyze data on prevalence of mental disorders in the population, to submit conclusions and proposals on improvement of public mental health to the Ministry of Health;
to implement within competence mental health policies, programmes of national mental health prevention, alcohol control, drug dependence prevention, drug control and tobacco control;
to perform within competence research in epidemiology of mental disorders, alcohol, drug and other dependencies, to coordinate and execute applied research and corresponding investigation programmes;
to store and analyze information on programmes and projects for prevention of psychoactive substances use in the country; to present proposals for prevention of dependencies;
to educate healthy styles of life in population, to implement measures of public mental health preservation and promotion;
to inform publicly about their activities;
to perform other functions commissioned by the laws of the Republic of Lithuania, government decrees, directions of the Ministry of Health and other legal acts.

If a licence is demanded for any activity specified in these regulations, the Centre is bound to have one.