Tag Archives: Mental Health Services Act

Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) Update + Modernizing of MHSA

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MHSA Three-Year Plan 

MHSA has provided a dedicated funding to transform County behavioral health services for children, youth, transition-age youth, adults, older adults, and families by imposing a 1% tax on personal income over $1 million in California. MHSA legislation requires the development of a Three-Year Plan to identify priorities for funding mental health and substance use services, programming, infrastructure, workforce, and various other strategies. 

A Community Program Planning (CPP) process for the MHSA Three-Year Plan kicked off in the Fall 2022 with an MHSA Three-Year Plan Workgroup made up clients, family members, community-based agencies and community leaders.  This Workgroup provided input on the planning process to ensure inclusivity and accessibility, reviewed and advised on data needed to support a thorough a Needs Assessment phase, and supported opportunities for community input on strategies to address the needs during a Strategy Development phase.  Over 40 sources of data were reviewed and informed behavioral health needs, including a community survey distributed broadly.  Over 30 community input sessions were facilitated with local groups, vulnerable communities and collaboratives to identify priority programs, services, and strategies.  A summary of the strategy recommendations will be presented to the MHSA Steering Committee meeting scheduled for May 4, 2023, from 3-4:30pm.  This will be hybrid (in-person/online), open to the public.  For more information, visit the MHSA website, www.scmhealth.org/MHSA, and click on the “Announcements” tab.  

MHSA Innovations (INN) 

BHRS is excited to announce that four new MHSA INN projects proposed were approved by both the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors and the state Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission (MHSOAC).  The MHSA INN projects include the Adult Residential In-Home Support Element (ARISE), Mobile Behavioral Health Services for Farmworkers, Recovery Connection Drop-in Center, and Music Therapy for Asians and Asian Americans. More on these projects can be found in the Dececember BHRS Director’s Update. A Request for Proposal process was conducted and BHRS is currently selecting the providers for these new services, which we expect to start-up July 1, 2023.  Additionally, a previously approved MHSA INN project, the Pacific Islanders Organizing, Nurturing, and Empowering Everyone to Rise and Serve (PIONEERS) Program was recently awarded to HealthRIGHT 360’s Asian American Recovery Services (AARS) agency and is expected to also launch July 1st. The PIONEERS program will provide culturally relevant, behavioral health support for Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders (NHPI) youth and young adults across San Mateo County. 

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Pride Center MHSA Project Outcomes

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The San Mateo County Pride Center opened it’s doors in July 2016 as a Mental Health ServicesAct (MHSA) Innovation (INN)-approved five-year pilot project. Since then, the Pride Center has expanded the network of services available to the LGBTQ+ community, promoted visibility and belonging, and filled gaps in culturally responsive mental health treatment services.

According to the San Mateo County LGBTQ Commission’s 2018 countywide survey of 546 LGBTQ+ residents and employees, fewer than half (43%) of adult respondents felt that their mental health care provider had the expertise to care for their needs. Among LGBTQ+ youth who responded to the survey, three-quarters (74%)
reported that they had considered harming themselves in the past 12 months, and two-thirds (65%) did not know where to access LGBTQ+ friendly health care.

The MHSA INN component allows counties to introduce and evaluate mental health approaches that have not been tried elsewhere, to develop new best practices. The San Mateo County Pride Center was developed as an INN project since the U.S. has no other model of a coordinated approach across mental health, social, and psychoeducational services for the LGBTQ+ community.

The Pride Center offers services in three components:

  1. Social and Community Activities: outreaches, engages, reduces isolation, educates, and provides support to high-risk LGBTQ+ individuals through peer-based models of wellness and recovery that include educational and stigma reduction activities.
  2. Clinical Services: provides mental health services focusing on individuals at high risk of, or with moderate to severe, mental health challenges.
  3. Resource Services and Training: serves as a hub for LGBTQ+ resources. Hosts trainings and events related to sexual orientation and gender identity, and on providing culturally affirmative services.

In FY 2020-21 alone:
• 3,000+ participants served through clinical, social, training, and drop-in services
• 169 unique individuals received clinical services
• 2,700 hours of clinical services were delivered
• 359 community members served across 10 different peer support groups
• 300+ LGBTQ+ older adults were regularly contacted via emails, calls, and support groups

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Mental Health Services Act Updates

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MHSA Steering Committee Meeting – February 3rd 

MHSA Steering Committee meetings are open to the public to provide input, make recommendations and stay up-to-date on new MHSA developments and ongoing programming. The next meeting is scheduled, see the flyer for more details.

MHSA Steering Committee Meeting
Thursday, February 3, 2022
3:00 pm – 4:30 pm 

New MHSA Innovation Workgroup

Help us develop an inclusive and supportive process for submitting, selecting and funding innovative ideas! 5% of MHSA funding must be allocated to new best practices in behavioral health services. The workgroup will meet once a month on Thursdays, February 17th, March 17th and April 21st from 3-4:30 PM. See the flyer for more details.

To join this workgroup, we ask that you:

  • Commit to attending all three (3) meetings listed above.
  • Complete a short Participant Survey. The workgroup will be limited to 10-12 individuals.

7/15- MHSA Three-Year Plan Review – Special Meeting

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The Mental Health and Substance Use Recovery Commission (MHSARC) will hold a special meeting on July 15th at 3pm and vote to submit the following two MHSA items to the Board of Supervisors: 

  • MHSA Three-Year Plan, Fiscal Year 2020-23 – updated 7/6/20
  • Plan to Spend $5M One-Time Funds – COVID impacts 

The 30-day public comment period closed on Friday, July 3rd.  All public comments have been posted on the MHSA website.

A summary of actions and next steps is included below:

Plan to Spend $5M One-Time Funds on COVID-related impacts
At the Commission meeting on Wednesday, July 1st all comments received for the $5M One-Time Plan were reviewed. The $5M One-Time Plan was amended to include information on the two line items related to stop gaps and is available on the MHSA website.

MHSA Three-Year Plan, Fiscal Year 2020 – 2023
Due to the high number of substantive comments received overall, the MHSARC postponed the review to the July 15th scheduled special meeting. The meeting is open to the public and there will be a time on the meeting agenda for public comment.

For more information, please email Doris Estremera at DEstremera@smcgov.org.

4/29 – MHSA Strategy Prioritization

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The MHSA Steering Committee on April 29th will be conducted over Zoom online conference, which can also be attended through the conference line provided for over-the-phone access.  The meeting is open to the public. The agenda and presentation slides are now posted on the MHSA website.


MHSA Steering Committee Meeting – Strategy Prioritization
Wednesday, April 29, 2020 / 4:30 – 6:00 PM
Zoom Meeting: https://zoom.us/j/125761698 
Dial in: +1 669 900 6833 / Meeting ID: 125 761 698
One tap mobile: +16699006833,,125761698# 

We conducted 28 input sessions, engaging well over 400 individuals in developing strategies for our prioritized needs.  We have organized all recommendations received into proposed MHSA Strategic Initiatives, I’m excited to share this with you. We will be reviewing all 20+ strategies and hearing from clients and family members who have prepared pre-recorded public comments* to share their stories related to the areas of work we are proposing. 

Hope you are all staying safe during these unprecedented times – thank you for your help in making San Mateo County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services a better community partner!

* Public Participation: All members of the public can offer comment at this public meeting. During the meeting, participants will be muted, and chat disabled to prevent background noise and disruptions. The host(s) will unmute one participant at a time during the Q&A and Public Comment portions of the meeting. If you would like to speak, please click on the icon labeled “Participants” at the bottom center of the Zoom screen then click on “Raise Hand”. The host(s) will unmute you in the order in which the hand raise notification is received. Please limit your question/comments to 1-2 minutes, the host(s) will be monitoring the time. Share screen and chat will be disabled. The meeting will be recorded.


Questions and public comments can also be submitted via email to mhsa@smcgov.org. There will be a 30-day public comment period once the draft MHSA 3-Year Plan is published.

Zoom Meeting: https://zoom.us/j/125761698
Dial in: +1 669 900 6833 / Meeting ID: 125 761 698

MHSA Needs Survey – Last chance to provide input!

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Final opportunity to complete a 12 question survey that will help inform the mental health and substance use needs in San Mateo County, the survey closes on March 20, 2020… feel free to share it broadly!  

MHSA Needs Prioritization Survey
 

We are still conducing community Input Sessions to help develop strategies for potential funding over the next three years, see the input session schedule below.  Due to coronavirus response guidelines we have converted meetings to either over-the-phone and/or online, check back regularly for updates!

For more information, contact Doris Estremera at DEstremera@smcgov.org or visit www.smchealth.org/mhsa.

MHSA Three-Year Planning

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The MHSA Three-Year Plan is developed in collaboration with clients and families, community members, staff, community agencies and stakeholders. It includes behavioral health priorities for funding over the next three years for program expansions and/or improvements, services and expenditure projections.

There are many opportunities for you to get involved in shaping the priorities for MHSA over the next 3 years.

First off, please take the time to complete a 12 question survey that will help inform the mental health and substance use needs in San Mateo County and feel free to share the survey broadly!

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MHSA2020

Additionally, there are in-person community meetings throughout San Mateo County to help develop strategies to address the prioritized needs. Visit the the MHSA website, www.smchealth.org/MHSA, for the meeting flyers and the 2020 Input Sessions list, and check  regularly for updates!


MHSA Steering Committee – Prioritization of Needs
Wednesday, March 4, 2020
3:30 pm – 4:00 pm (MHSARC)
4:00 pm – 5:30 pm (MHSA)
San Mateo County Health Campus, Room 100
225 37th Avenue in San Mateo

MHSA Steering Committee – Prioritization of Strategies
Wednesday, April 29, 2020
4:30pm – 6:30pm
Veterans Memorial Building, Redwood Room
1455 Madison Avenue in Redwood City


Thank you for your help in making San Mateo County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services a better community partner!

https://www.smchealth.org/bhrs/mhsa

11/16 – Technology Suite Advisory Committee

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Technology Suite Advisory Committee

Recently, Behavioral Health and Recovery Services (BHRS) joined a County Behavioral Health Technology Collaborative, a statewide project aimed at utilizing technology- based and online services and supports to engage and increase access for individuals experiencing symptoms of mental illness who may struggle accessing traditional resources. 

We are seeking a Technology Suite Advisory Committee (TSAC), composed of mental health providers, mental health clients/consumers, family members and community members to help design and oversee the Technology Suite implementation and evaluation. The purpose of the committee is to have a forum for members to provide recommendations on the features offered through the Technology Suite and input on the implementation. The TSAC will review the Technology Suite activities and make suggestions for improvement. The Office of Diversity and Equity will be overseeing the implementation process. 

The informational meeting is to answer any questions, share more about the statewide project and the role of the committee.  You can attend the informational meeting to learn more without any commitment to further participation.

Written by Brittany Ganguly, Community Health Planner

Office of Diversity and Equity 

Mental Health Services Act Prevention and Early Intervention Task Force

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Starting this Friday, October 27th, Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) will be convening a Prevention and Early Intervention (PEI) Task Force to develop strategies to better serve the behavioral health care needs of individuals ages 0-25.

The last PEI Task Force was assembled in 2006 prior to the disbursement of MHSA funding. Since then, learning and best practices have emerged; context and environment have shifted. For three 2-hour meetings, this special time-limited task force is intended to make recommendations for prevention and early intervention priorities and programming for children, youth and transition age youth in San Mateo County as part of the MHSA Three-Year Plan.

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