Aside from being a hospital, NCMH is authorized by the Department of Health as a Special Research Training Center. According to the NCMH website, the hospital is "mandated to render a comprehensive (preventive, promotive, curative and rehabilitative) range of quality mental health services nationwide". Aside from this, NCMH also offers a 4-year psychiatric residency training program for doctors and a 2-year psychiatric nursing program for nurses specializing in psychiatric care.