Open Access East Palo Alto: Transforming a County Mental Health System through Community Partnership

With the passing of the Mental Health Services Act or Proposition 63 in California, county mental health agencies were given funds to improve and develop services (i.e. access and engagement to communities who have been considered unserved and underserved, or inappropriately served) including those living in East Palo Alto, San Mateo County.

The Mental Health Services Act provided an opportunity for county and community members to engage in dialogue to improve service delivery for MH services in East Palo Alto. East Palo Alto is an area of San Mateo County with high needs and historically low service utilization. The presence of key community representatives including consumers and family members, as well as an intermediary community based organization, One East Palo Alto (OEPA), acting as a “convener” helped in identifying same day access as a critical systems change.

During the first year following implementation, Open Access East Palo Alto served 30% more clients than the year before. Clients were seen on average within 3.8 days after they contacted the system and many clients were seen on the same day as their first contact. In a client survey, 85% of clients said they were satisfied with the speed with which they received their first service. Client's sense of being welcomed and respected was also above 85%.

The success of the EPA Same Day Access project was recognized as a STAR Customer Service Awards from the County of San Mateo.