Author Archives: Doris Estremera

Requesting Letters of Interest for MHSA Innovation Funding

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Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) Innovation funds provide exciting opportunities to learn something new that has the potential to transform the mental health system.  Innovative projects are defined as novel, creative, ingenious approaches developed within communities and lead to learning for the mental health system. In the fall of 2014, the Community Program Planning (CPP) process to develop the MHSA Three-Year Plan included generating ideas for innovative projects. The MHSA Steering Committee made recommendations on which projects to move forward for further exploration, listed below in order of votes received. For the next phase of the MHSA INN project development, we are requesting a Letter of Interest from organizations for the following six project areas:

• The Health Ambassador Program
• Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics (NMT) for adults
• Housing advocacy services
• LGBTQ Behavioral Health Center
• Technology Innovations to support youth treatment and crisis
• Technology Innovations for engaging isolated and hard-to-reach adults

The Innovation Letter of Interest Form and instructions are available at the MHSA website. The deadline to submit interest is July 10, 2015. For more information on any of the proposed project areas, please contact Doris Estremera at (650)573-2889 or mhsa@smcgov.org

The Fatherhood Collaborative acknowledges the Office of Diversity & Equity’s Parent Project®

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FC RecognitionThis past weekend the Fatherhood Collaborative of San Mateo County acknowledged Dr. Jei Africa for his leadership in guiding the Behavioral Health & Recovery Services (BHRS) Office of Diversity & and Equity’s (ODE) Parent Project®. During the event, Senator Jerry Hill and Supervisor Dave Pine recognized the Parent Project® for its work and focus on engaging fathers in ODE courses and taking intentional steps to increase involvement by fathers, uncles, grandfathers and other male figures in children’s lives and in our communities.

This tribute highlights the work of BHRS to engage fathers and father figures in ODE courses, in its diligent work to increase the number of men facilitating our Parent Project® courses, and in currently having 50% of BHRS Health Ambassadors being male role models for our youth, families and communities. To learn more about ODE’s Parent Project® visit www.smchealth.org/ODE

In the News: Mental Health First Aid, the new CPR?

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The Mercury News recently published an article on the increased funding for Mental Health First Aid, alluding that it just may become as popular as CPR…now, that would be the goal!

As the article quoted, “You are far more likely to come across someone having a mental health crisis or substance abuse disorder than a heart attack or choking on the piece of food at a restaurant”…

Yet, how do you know what depression or anxiety look like?  What do you do when you do meet someone experiencing suicidal thoughts? How do you provide that crucial initial support and help that could save a person’s life?

That’s what Mental Health First Aid teaches you!

And, in San Mateo County we are taking a deliberate approach of ensuring that we reach all ethnic and cultural groups… “In San Mateo it is taught in several languages, including Spanish, Tagalog, Samoan and Tongan, said Jei Africa, director of the county Behavioral Health and Recovery Services’ Office of Diversity and Equity. “What we are doing is paying attention to the cultural nuances — so it’s not ‘one-size-fits-all’ teaching,” Africa said.”

Enjoy the read and visit the Office of Diversity and Equity website to find out how you can attend a FREE, local Mental Health First Aid course (MHFA) or host a course at your location.

http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_27946284/a-surge-in-federal-funding-for-mental-health-first-aid-could-make-it-as-popular-as-cpr 

Dr. Jei Africa Receives Distinguished Humanitarian Award

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Our very own BHRS staff, Dr. Jei Africa, Director of the Office of Diversity and Equity was honored with the California Psychological Association, Distinguished Humanitarian Contribution Award. The award honors a person whose voluntary and career efforts have directly and significantly improved the quality of life for a broad range and large number of persons in our society. The award is intended to highlight members of the psychology profession who transcend guild interests.

We are so proud of Dr. Jei Africa, please help us congratulate him!

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Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) Three-Year Plan Approved

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On January 27,  the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors reviewed and approved the MHSA Three-Year Plan & Annual Update, which has now been submitted to the State of California.

What does this mean for San Mateo County?  State funding, from the passing of Proposition 63 in 2004 imposing a 1% tax on personal income in excess of $1M, has been prioritized for the next three years of services, programs and efforts to reduce the long-term impacts resulting from untreated serious mental illness in San Mateo County.

Thank you to the close to 300 stakeholders, consumers/clients, families, community members, partner organizations and BHRS staff that participated in the planning process!

A few key highlights:

Read more

Are Prevention and Early Intervention Programs Working?

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“We said from the very beginning that the goal of Prop 63 [aka Mental Health Services Act] is to reverse the numbers. Where as, 20% every year is required to be spent on prevention and early intervention and 80% on the backend necessary services, if we do this right, twenty years from now, thirty years from now we’ll be spending 80% on on prevention and early intervention and then only have to spend 20% on services for people who did not get the help early enough.” – Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg

A recent press release from California’s Mental Health Services & Oversight Accountability Commission (MHSOAC) announced that prevention and early intervention programs across the State are working, stating that “hundreds of thousands of Californians at risk of or with early symptoms of mental illness are being helped by Proposition 63’s Prevention and Early Intervention (PEI) programs,” based on a July 2014 study from the UCLA Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities. Find out more about this statewide study by visiting the MHSOAC website.

In San Mateo County, the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) funds over twenty PEI programs including Stigma Free San Mateo County, the Office of Diversity and Equity Health Equity Initiatives, a crisis hotline, school age and transition age youth intervention programs, senior peer counseling, among others.  We are currently evaluating many of these programs and expect to share the results next year.  Want to be notified when the evaluation findings are released? Visit and subscribe to our website www.smchealth.org/bhrs/mhsa to stay up-to-date on the great work funded by MHSA to prevent and treat mental health illness in San Mateo County.

Has the Mental Health Services Act Changed Your Life?

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The Mental Health Services Act (MHSA), Proposition 63, was approved by California voters in 2004 and has since provided a dedicated source of funding for mental health services by imposing a 1% tax on personal income in excess of $1 million.  In San Mateo County that has meant funding for over 50 programs and efforts to transform our behavioral health and recovery system while improving the quality of life for individuals living with mental illness and substance abuse.

Have any of these San Mateo County Behavioral Health & Recovery Services MHSA programs changed your life?

We would love to hear your story and share it in the a commemorative book, The Prop 63 Story, to be presented to Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, author of Prop 63 by the Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission (MHSOAC).

We are thankful for this legislation and look forward to continuing changing lives in San Mateo County!

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