A summary of the proposed changes which have the potential to impact adult behavioral health consumers is outlined below, followed by Cal Voices’ concerns, unanswered questions and recommendations. It is important to note that this is an initial proposal, with DHCS allowing for stakeholder involvement over the next few months to gather input.

Each year ACCESS California provides a  State of the Community Report from the perspective of client advocacy across California. ACCESS aims to address current policy topics, relevant training, and the overall goal of transformative client-driven mental health policy.

Each year ACCESS California provides a  State of the Community Report from the perspective of client advocacy across California. ACCESS aims to address current policy topics, relevant training, and the overall goal of transformative client-driven mental health policy.

ACCESS California provides a brief snapshot summary of legislative policy moving through the California State Congress. This includes the recorded status, support and opposition, and fiscal impacts according to legislative committee analyses as of the above date.

The MHSA, passed by California voters in 2004, was intended to transform the public mental health system, not only through the generation of new revenue to fund the expansion of services, but also by requiring unprecedented levels of stakeholder input and involvement at all levels of program planning, development, and oversight.

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It is imperative that County planning processes reflect the community of clients they serve and allow for meaningful participation by client/consumer stakeholders who can advocate from experience and promote client dignity and rights in the way services are delivered.

Digital therapeutics are evidence-based, software-driven interventions that are proven through at least one randomized controlled trial (RCT) to prevent, manage, or treat a health, mental health, or behavioral health condition. Although there are not yet any universally recognized qualifications for digital therapeutics, the industry and the United States government are developing definitions and best practices to outline a framework for these emerging therapies.

"Mental illness doesn't cause violence, but violence causes mental illness. What are we doing for the living victims of the recent violent attacks, who are so soon forgotten by most public officials?

"There are more reasons, too, but the bottom line is this: When Clifford W. Beers, the founder of the modern mental health advocacy movement, said more than one hundred years ago that 'I must fight in the open,' he shed light on systemic failures and abuses that had been hidden behind institutional doors for decades. No reasoned person would want to go back there."

ACCESS California, as a part of Mental Health America, addresses the client-driven perspective on Involuntary Mental Health Treatment. The dignity of risk is a right that any other person without mental illness is granted freely, so we must find balance between coercive outpatient treatment and directing clients to choose healthier outcomes.

Similar to other specialized court systems such as drug courts and veterans’ courts, mental health courts are an alternative to navigating the criminal justice system for people with a mental health disability. Mental health courts were developed in response to the inability of traditional courts and jails to address a defendant’s underlying mental illness, in cases where prior diversion efforts have failed, but the nature of the charge is not so serious that prosecutors are unwilling to relinquish control. Since the 1990s, mental health courts have been created in numerous jurisdictions[i] across the United States, largely as a response to the increasing number of defendants with serious mental health conditions (“mental illnesses”) who are caught up in the criminal justice system.

Accurate census data is extremely important because it drives congressional apportionment (how many members of the U.S. House of Representatives are allocated to California), congressional and local redistricting (what populations and areas are represented by our elected federal and state lawmakers), and the allocation of federal funding for vital programs that support individuals receiving services in the PMHS, including:

• Medicaid (Medi-Cal)

• Public Education

• Special Education

• Section 8/Low Income Housing vouchers and assistance

• Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)

• Medicare Part B

• Head Start

• National School Lunch Program

• State Children’s Health Insurance Program 

• Child Care & Development Fund

• Supplemental Insurance for Women, Infants, and Children

• Local Education Grants

• Community Block Grants

• and much more!

Colleges and universities (“colleges” refers to any post-secondary education) should be committed to the success and health of every student. Mental Health America (“MHA”) envisions healthy college environments in which all students are accorded dignity and fairness, and evidence-based policies are implemented which safeguard students’ opportunity to achieve their full potential free from stigma, prejudice, and discrimination. Consistent with this philosophy, MHA supports services and systems that promote the capacity of college students with mental health conditions to live lives that they value and to have the opportunity to attend college in supportive and welcoming environments.

Mental Health America (MHA) envisions a just, humane and healthy society in which all people are accorded respect, dignity and the opportunity to achieve their full potential free from stigma and prejudice. Consistent with this philosophy, MHA supports and promotes services and systems that facilitate and promote the capacity of people with mental health and substance use conditions to live a life that they value. This goal has become the aim of the recovery movement, led by people with lived experience of their own restored capacity. Using the Alcoholics Anonymous term, but with a mental health emphasis, the mental health movement has embraced the recovery movement.

Peer support services have been shown to decrease costs of services, reduce symptoms and hospitalization, and improve the well-being and social functioning of those receiving services. California is one of the last states in the country to develop a statewide peer certification program. Currently, the state is trying for the third time to pass a peer certification bill. This paper outlines ACCESS California's recommendations for what statewide peer certification in California should look like.

California tech companies are developing apps that use algorithms to track and measure clients’ mental states based on device use and behaviors, also known as digital phenotyping. The data collected from clients’ smartphones, web-connected devices, and wearable technology with apps such as 7 Cups of Tea and Mindstrong, is used for mental health screening and monitoring. The collected anonymous data also becomes private corporate property and could be resold for profit for targeted advertising, among other things. Counties are approving these apps and programs, often without stakeholder involvement, as Innovation programs to utilize Mental Heath Services Act money. This paper explains the risks associated with these programs, and the questions that client stakeholders should be asking their Counties prior to implementing them.

Mental Health America (MHA) believes that peer support is an essential element of successful communities that is integral to recovery from mental health and substance abuse conditions. MHA calls on states and communities to incorporate peer support into community-based mental health and substance use treatment services. Peer mental health and substance abuse support services make use of empathy and empowerment to help support and inspire recovery.

To have and hold a satisfying and meaningful job is a crucial source of dignity and purpose for most people. For individuals with mental health and substance use conditions, work in some form (including competitive employment but also self–employment; cooperative work/employment; mutual exchange-based employment, work in a social enterprise, and volunteer work) is often a key to recovery.

There is a growing body of research demonstrating the alarmingly high rates of overall health problems and premature death among individuals with serious mental illnesses. A recent comprehensive review confirmed that people with mental health diagnoses die up to 20 years prior to other individuals with no mental health diagnosis.[1] Comorbid substance abuse exacerbates the effect.[2]

Mental Health America (MHA) believes that treating the whole person through the integration of behavioral health[1] and general medical healthcare can save lives, reduce negative health outcomes, facilitate quality care, and promote efficiency and cost savings.

Mental Health America (MHA) believes that all individuals and families should have access to mental health services that are responsive to their needs. This requires minimizing barriers, providing multiple referral and service pathways, redesigning services that are more culturally and linguistically competent[1] and evidence-based,[2] and expanding access in rural and inner-city areas to community-based systems of mental health and substance use services and supports that are integrated with medical care. MHA particularly advocates dedicating new funding “B4stage4.”[3] To promote wellness and recovery, governmental initiatives should promote mental health[4] and prevent mental illness[5] and identify people at risk as soon as symptoms become apparent.

Mental Health America (MHA) is dedicated to accelerating the application of scientific and practical knowledge to help in the recovery of people with mental health and substance use conditions. This focus on evidence-based healthcare spans the development, exposition, evaluation, replication, translation, dissemination and implementation of knowledge about mental health and substance use disorders and their prevention and treatment and includes all forms of knowledge, from randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials and large epidemiological studies through clinical practice, outcome monitoring and insights and outcomes reported by people in treatment (e.g., patient registries[1])

Mental Health America (MHA) envisions a just, humane and healthy society in which all people are accorded respect, dignity and the opportunity to achieve their full potential free from stigma, discrimination and prejudice, and supports recovery as the guiding principle for treatment of mental illness and addiction.[1] Consistent with this philosophy, MHA promotes individualized planning and self-determination[2] initiatives for individuals with mental health and substance use[3] conditions as important tools in the development of recovery-oriented systems of care.

Mental Health America (MHA) is dedicated to accelerating the application of scientific and practical knowledge to help in the recovery of people with mental health and substance use conditions. This focus on evidence-based healthcare spans the development, exposition, evaluation, replication, translation, dissemination and implementation of knowledge about mental health and substance use disorders and their prevention and treatment and includes all forms of knowledge, from randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials and large epidemiological studies through clinical practice, outcome monitoring and insights and outcomes reported by people in treatment (e.g., patient registries[1])