An excerpt from our 2025 Impact Report:
Dear Friends, Colleagues, and Collaborators,
Thank you for taking the time to read our Impact Report and for being part of a community that believes prevention matters. In 2025, I had the opportunity to start a Prevention Subcommittee within the Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services Professional Advisory Committee. The goal was simple but powerful: to elevate the understanding that all clinical work addressing substance use and mental health disorders should include intentional elements of prevention. Prevention is not separate from treatment—it is foundational to it.
The subcommittee highlights an important distinction between attribution and contribution. Attribution helps us see clear cause-and-effect relationships in well-defined systems. Contribution, on the other hand, recognizes the reality of complex systems, where outcomes are shaped by many interconnected efforts. As we often say, attribution is about cause-and-effect, while contribution is about collective influence. Prevention work lives squarely in this space of collective influence—and that makes it both challenging and incredibly impactful.
Mercer Council’s vision of “Empowering Communities Through Education & Support” and our mission to create pathways that reduce substance and behavioral health challenges through education, support, advocacy, and partnership remain as relevant as ever. Today, we are fortunate to have stronger research and better science that validate the dedication and impact of our past and present team members, collaborators, and supporters.
— Margarita Leahy, Executive Director
Please view our 2025 Impact Report below.
