California's mental health prevention and early intervention programs: Policy, planning, implementation, and evaluation

In January 2013, California Senate President pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg urged the federal government to consider emulating California's transformational mental health care model, as realized by the voter-approved Mental Health Services Act (MHSA; formerly Proposition 63). Among other initiatives, the MHSA provides $160 million dollars to fund statewide mental health prevention and early intervention (PEI) programs designed to restructure mental health care from a fail-first to a help-first system. These programs are grounded in evidence-based and community-defined principles, and are a unique opportunity to develop, implement, and evaluate programs that address the goals identified in the New Freedom Commission's Achieving the Promise: Transforming Mental Health Care in America.1 This presentation will cover the historical context, desired outcomes and the resulting policy decisions that led to the formation of the three main PEI program areas: student mental health, stigma and discrimination reduction, and student mental health.

1.New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. Achieving the Promise: Transforming Mental Health Care in America. Executive Summary. Rockville, MD: Department of Health and Human Services; 2003. DHHS publication SMA-03-3831.