Advocacy

Access to quality mental health services are necessary if people with psychiatric disabilities are going to live with the hope of recovery. A mental health system built upon the promise of growth and healing has several attributes:

• Minimal use of hospital-based acute care and institutional-based long-term care
• A system of community-based treatment alternatives
• Services providing goal-oriented support through assessment, goal planning, linkage, coordination and advocacy
• An extensive program of outreach and engagement for those who are homeless, in jail or at risk of either
• Consumer-run programs that emphasize peer support and self-help centers
• Educational and vocational support services
• Supportive housing resources

Proposition 63

In 2004, California voters passed Proposition 63 – The Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) – to rectify over three decades of chronic under funding of community mental health services for individuals with serious mental illness. MHSA’s passage increased funding for community mental health with a vision toward transforming the public mental health system into a recovery-oriented one with community-based alternatives to traditional medical model treatment.

Proposition 63 became a reality through a passionate, well-coordinated and concerted advocacy effort that included consumers, providers, mental health professionals and others who see the social benefit of funding a system providing quality, community-based, recovery-oriented mental health services.

For more information on the MHSA and its progress, please visit the CA Department of Health Care Services page.