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Home > Mental
Health Division Directory > About
Mental Health > Mental
Health Admin Contacts
> Overview > Org
Chart > Services > Crisis
Services > Patient
Rights > Quality
Assurance > MHSA
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MENTAL
HEALTH SERVICES ACT
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On
November 2, 2004, the voters of California
passed Proposition 63, the Mental Health
Services Act (MHSA). MHSA provides significant
additional funding for the delivery of
mental health services within the State.
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Our overall goal is to provide a program
focused on recovery for individuals with
mental health issues, maximizing their
potential for successful independent
living within the community. The following
is a summary of what we hope to provide
for Tehama County utilizing MHSA funds:
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1)
Housing was the number one issue identified
during our planning process. Therefore,
we are proposing the hiring of a Housing
Specialist to assist our clients in
finding and maintaining housing from
supported housing to fully independent
living. Our goal is to obtain permanent
housing for mental health consumers.
This specialist would initially provide
assistance for overall housing needs,
but in the second year, the focus would
be on the populations we will be targeting
for full service partnerships. Additionally,
some of the funds will be used to provide
temporary housing payment assistance. |
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2)
Providing services in the outlying
communities was identified as the
second most important issue. We are
proposing that we increase access
by co-locating Mental Health services
at one or more physical health care
sites. It is our hope that this will
make access easier for some people,
and decrease the potential for the
barrier of perceived stigma to keep
people from accessing needed services.
We are also exploring ways to increase
services at school sites, using existing
space. We plan to provide a clinician
and a drug/alcohol counselor to do
intervention groups at several school
sites. (Co-location at physical health
care was also listed as a need, placing
sixth in importance.) In the initial
stages of the planning process, it
was thought that we could purchase
used modular buildings, and place
them on school sites. The Department
of Education had identified 7 school
sites willing to assist with this
plan. Unfortunately, purchasing of
sites will not be available until
the Capital Outlay area of funding
is released. It is our hope that
we can proceed with this plan at
that time. These buildings would
also be available for our partners
to use as needed, to increase outreach
for various services.
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3)
Employment was the third most important
issue identified during the planning
process. We propose to hire a vocational
specialist to assist our clients
in finding and maintaining meaningful
employment. The plan is to develop
a vocational/educational program
that is based on individualized need,
including developing partnerships
with Vocational Rehabilitation, Job
Training Center, Cal-Works, etc.
Stipends will be available for this
training program. This specialist
would also shift primary focus to
our full partnership target populations
in the second year. |
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4)
Outreach and engagement ranked fourth
in importance. During our survey
process, we learned that many people
lack knowledge about mental health
issues in general, and especially
do not know how to access services
if needed. An additional issue is
how to effectively engage with hard-to-reach
groups such as transition age youth,
adolescents, or older adults. We
are proposing to use Mental Health
Services Act monies to provide staff
to do more outreach in the community,
to schools, organizations, and on
an individual basis. We plan to incorporate
the use of consumers in the recovery
process as members of the outreach
panels to provide a more personal
perspective. In addition, participation
on the panels will be part of a vocational
training program for consumers, to
facilitate practice in public speaking,
which is a key skill in obtaining
and maintaining employment. We are
also proposing special training for
staff in evidence-based practices,
which focus on how to do outreach
and treatment for populations that
may not respond well to typical office-based
services. Additional education about
mental health was identified as an
important part of outreach. We are
proposing to establish resource centers
at each of our sites, with computer
access to housing resources, employment
resources, recovery information,
self-help resources, and general
information about mental health diagnosis
and treatment. This would involve
a small remodeling project of our
Walnut Street office in the waiting
room area. |
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5)
Mobile Crisis Response ranked fifth
in areas of need. The plan proposes
to increase on-call clinical staffing
to be available to respond to the
hospital to do onsite assessments.
Often Law Enforcement personnel bring
people in crisis to either the hospital
or the Crisis Intervention Clinic,
depending on the most urgent need.
At times, it then becomes evident
that the person needs to be transported
to the other facility, and often
the officers have to wait with the
person while treatment is administered.
If Mental Health can respond to the
hospital to do an onsite assessment,
this will allow for a more seamless
approach to crisis intervention,
and the person in crisis can receive
more timely services, which is often
critical to better outcomes. |
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6)
The need for Tele-psychiatry was
proposed
in response to dissatisfaction with
our current system of having temporary
psychiatrists that come and go, and
the negative impact this has on continuity
of care for clients receiving the
service. When we surveyed our existing
clients, there was more interest
in having another psychiatrist available
onsite, and therefore, we are attempting
to recruit for a permanent psychiatrist. |
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7)
Dual diagnosis services were also
addressed as an unmet need. We plan
to include a drug and alcohol counselor
to focus on prevention and treatment
for youth and transition age youth.
Dual diagnosis services will also
be included in the full service partnership. |
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8)
Workforce development will be pursued
through special training for staff,
focusing on evidenced based practices,
and the recovery process. |
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9)
Weekend services were also a request.
We have put weekend Day Rehabilitation
services in place already, and are
including the expansion of our Drop-In
Center on Saturdays as part of the
Mental Health Services Act plan. |
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10) Full-Service
Partnerships. Each county is required
to identify target populations that
are currently underserved, and develop
a comprehensive plan that includes
a wide-array of services for these
populations. We plan to focus on transition
age youth and older adults. |
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