Author Archives: Doris Estremera

Mental Health and Well-Being of Today’s Youth and Teens

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The African American Community Health Advisory Committee (AACHAC), with support from the Office of Diversity & Equity- African American Community Initiative (AACI), will be hosting Mental Health and Well-Being of Today’s Youth and Teens event to discuss mental health conditions,  local services available, and help shape the future of mental health services for African American youth and teens.

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February 20, 2016 / 9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Community Church of East Palo Alto
2201 University Ave, East Palo Alto, CA 94303

View the event flyer, the program will also include:
• Panel discussion with mental health professionals, Rosché Brown, PsyD and Karyn McElroy, LCSW
• Resource tables
• Continental breakfast and lunch

You can register at aachac.org for this free program or call (650) 696-4378

Investing in California College Students’ Mental Health Yields High Returns

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According to a RAND Corporation study released this month, the California’s Student Mental Health Initiative, a California Mental Health Services Authority (CalMHSA) program funded by the Mental Health Services Act,  led to a 13 percent increase in public university and community college students receiving mental health treatment and, as a result, will lead to:

  • 329 more students graduating with higher education degrees.
  • $56 million return for every year (or $6.49 return for every dollar) invested in the California Student Mental Health Initiative.

These results reinforce how important it is for San Mateo County to continue investing in prevention and early intervention for our students, particularly for our three community colleges: Cañada College, College of San Mateo and Skyline College.  The BHRS Office of Diversity and Equity offers prevention and early intervention programs to San Mateo County students and residents, including free community education courses, stigma discrimination reduction campaign and storytelling series.

The overall goal of the statewide Student Mental Health Initiative is “to improve the capacity of each campus to more quickly identify, support, and intervene with students at risk of mental health problems and to raise student and campus staff awareness of the importance of mental health well-being for successful completion of higher education.” About one-fifth to one-third of undergraduates have a mental health problem. Of those college students with a mental health disorder, only 20-40% seek treatment (the rate is even lower among public institutions).

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Images created at https://www.jasondavies.com/wordcloud/.

Public Comment Period Closes Friday

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The Public Comment Period for the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) Annual Update FY 2015-16 ends this Friday, December 4, 2015.

California’s MHSA (Proposition 63) imposes a 1% tax on personal income over $1 million.  Funding is provided to county mental health programs to fund programs consistent with their local plans, which are developed with community and stakeholder input.

The Annual Update is an opportunity to provide information to help track, evaluate, and communicate local and statewide impact of the MHSA.

Please review the MHSA Annual Plan available on our MHSA website, http://www.smchealth.org/bhrs/mhsa and let us know your thoughts.  Please also note recent updates made to the plan:

  • Updated the Funding Summary (p. 12-17)
  • Added FSP adult arrests data outcomes and clarification on data sample (p. 21)
  • Added demographics and outcome data for Outreach & Engagement efforts (p. 44-45)

Provide your comment by utilizing the comment form and send by email or mail to:

Doris Estremera, MHSA Manager
mhsa@smcgov.org
Behavorial Health and Recovery Services
225 37th Avenue, 3rd Floor
San Mateo, CA 94403

Now Open for Public Comment: Mental Health Service Act Annual Update

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The San Mateo County Mental Health and Substance Abuse Recovery Commission (MHSARC) released the County’s Draft Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) Annual Update for Programs and Expenditures Fiscal Year 2015-2016 for the 30-day public review/comment period on Wednesday, November 4, 2015.

The public comment period of the Draft Plan is from November 4, 2015 to December 4, 2015.

The Annual Update is available on the MHSA website.  Please review the Annual Update and provide your comments to mhsa@smcgov.org, or by mail to:

Doris Estremera, MHSA Manager
Behavioral Health and Recovery Services
225 37th Avenue, 3rd Floor
San Mateo, CA 94403

The MHSARC will hold a Public Hearing on the MHSA Annual Update FY 2015-2016 on Wednesday, December 2, 2015. Meeting time and location is noted below. We hope to see you there.

MHSARC Meeting
Wednesday, December 2, 2105
3:00-5:00 p.m.
Room 100, 225 37th Avenue
San Mateo, CA 94403

Funding Innovative Projects in Mental Health Services

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We are excited to announce that we are moving on to the next phase of the Mental Health Service Act (MHSA) Innovations project selection and process.

The MHSA Innovation component allows counties to apply for funds for novel, creative, ingenious approaches developed within communities that lead to learning for the mental health system. For the first San Mateo County Innovation, funded through June 2015, BHRS built on several emerging, innovative practices and implemented the Total Wellness program.

For this next phase we received ideas for innovative projects through the MHSA Three-Year Plan community input process, the MHSA Steering Committee prioritized these projects for possible funding, and a Letter of Interest process further identified capacity and interest. The following projects are moving forward to a Request for Proposal (RFP) and to approval by the State of California, Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission:

Youth Health Ambassador Program
LGBTQ coordinated services
Social media for youth in crisis
Additionally, the Neurosequential Model of Therapy will be expanded to serve adults and a client lifestyle data tracking app will be piloted by BHRS before releasing it for RFP. To stay informed when the RFP is released please sign up to receive notification on the MHSA website, http://www.smchealth.org/bhrs/mhsa.

$2-billion worth of supportive housing in California without new taxes!

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Darrell Steinberg, former Senate leader and co-author of the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA), proposed a “no new money” plan to;

  1. provide permanent supportive housing for thousands of homeless mentally ill;
  2. provide robust mental health services for college students on all public college campuses; and
  3. alleviate overcrowded ERs.

Read Steinberg’s editorial on the Sacramento Bee on his proposal to adjust MHSA and comment below with your thoughts on this ambitious plan.

MHSA is the 2004 ballot initiative, Proposition 63, which imposed a 1% tax on personal income over a million dollars to fund mental health services in California.

Public Comment on Full Service Partnership Classification System 

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The purpose of the Full Service Partnership (FSP) Classification project by the Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission (MHSOAC) and Mental Health Data Alliance, LLC (MHDATA) is to enable consumers, clients, family members, providers, counties, other stakeholders, and the state to further understand the diversity of FSP programs across California and to compare them when possible.

  • Preliminary FSP Classification System Report

Please submit your comments in writing by October 20, 2015, via one of the following:

  • Fill out the Online Survey
  • Call Mental Health Data Alliance, LLC toll free at 844-4-MHDATA (844-464-3282) or email info@mhdata.org to request a hard copy feedback form by mail or other accommodations if needed.

To learn more about the proposed classification system, you can register for the following webinar:

Proposed Preliminary FSP Classification System Webinar
Wednesday October 7, 2015, from 10:00-11:00 am
MHDATA will review key themes of the report including development of the classification system, how it might be useful to various stakeholder groups, and the proposed classification system survey. There will also be time reserved for comments and questions.

Next Mental Health Services Act Steering Committee Meeting

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It’s time for the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) Steering Committe to meet again!

The MHSA Steering Committee meets twice a year during the Implementation Phase of MHSA and is open to the public. The MHSA Steering Committee plays the important role of making recommendations to the planning and services development process of MHSA and assures that MHSA planning reflects local diverse needs and priorities.

Current agenda items: New Prevention and Early Intervention and Innovation Guidelines, Annual Update, Full Service Partnership Outcomes, Innovations Projects.

PLEASE JOIN US!

Wednesday, October 28, 2015 / 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm
San Mateo County Health System, Room 100
225 37th, San Mateo, CA 94403

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SPECIAL FEATURE #6: PROMOTING POSITIVE MENTAL HEALTH OUTCOMES – Stigma Free San Mateo County

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Stigma Free San Mateo County (SFSMC) is an initiative of the Office of Diversity and Equity (ODE) to eliminate stigma and end the discrimination against people with mental illness and substance use issues. One in four people have a mental health condition yet, less than 50% are getting the help they need because of the stigma and fear of being judged.

“…it’s all about raising awareness about mental health, talking about mental health and normalizing mental health so that it’s an every day conversation and people can get the help that they need just like any other medical condition,” says Katy Davis, Workforce Education and Training Coordinator.

SFSMC includes the Lived Experience Academy, Lived Experience Advocacy Academy, Skyline Community College Images of Stigma Series and the Be the One Campaign, an effort to get everyone involved in eliminating stigma by getting informed about mental illness and signing a pledge (www.smchealth.org/takethepledge) to end stigma.

Enjoy this short video clip and visit our Be the ONE website to learn more about how to get involved.

Once a week I shared BHRS Office of Diversity and Equity (ODE) prevention programs through a series of short video clips created by the California Mental Health Services Authority (CalMHSA), funded by the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA). This was the last of the videos, hope you enjoyed them!

Chinese Health Initiative (CHI) Meets and Celebrates Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋節)

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The Chinese Health Initiative (CHI) met last Thursday, September 24 to discuss various projects that contribute CHI’s mission to “improve the emotional and physical health and well‐being of Chinese individuals, families and children in San Mateo County.” During and after the meeting, CHI members enjoyed eating moon cakes to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋節).

To learn more about CHI, visit http://smchealth.org/bhrs/ode/chi.

To get involved with CHI, you can join the monthly meetings:

Every last Thursday of the month (next meeting is October 29th)
3:00 p.m. -4:30 p.m.
2000 Alameda de las Pulgas, Room 201
San Mateo, CA 94403

To join the mailing list or to get more information, please contact Sylvia Leung at sleung@smcgov.org or 650-578-7165.

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Picture (from left to right): CHI Members Cristina Ugaitafa, Diane Tom, Shiyu Zhang, Sylvia Leung, Steve Sust, Winnie Chan, Maureen Lin, Melodie Lew and Wanye Xu.

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