Sonoma County Mental Health Services Division
Mental Health Services Act Planning & Evaluation
The Mental Health Services Act (MHSA), a statewide voter initiative passed in 2004, provides funding for comprehensive wrap-around services to people living with serious mental illness. Services include a broad spectrum of prevention, early intervention, treatment, and community services, paired with critical reinforcements to the housing, technology and training infrastructures that support the mental health system. Prioritized populations include children, transitional age youth, adults, older adults and families.
Services
Need
In 2005, the Sonoma County Department of Health Services, Mental Health Division commissioned Harder+Company to facilitate an extensive community planning process to prepare the County for implementation of MHSA services. The first round of planning was intended to help determine how funds for community services and supports should be directed and to which priority populations.
What We Did
Harder+Company convened and facilitated a series of planning meetings for four content committees: 1) Children and Youth System of Care; 2) Adult Systems of Care; 3) Older Adults System of Care; and 4) System of Care for Underserved and Unserved Priority Populations.
Throughout the planning process we provided ongoing technical support to the content committees, as well as training and support to community contractors. We identified key stakeholders to participate in the meetings to ensure that diverse voices were incorporated into the process. We also built into the process opportunities for the meaningful involvement of consumers and families.
In total, 58 community meetings were held over a period of 9 months, involving 274 committee participants and 100 community organizations.
Results
The final report, a three-year integrated plan for community services and supports, outlined seven key program strategies and emphasized a recovery and resiliency vision for mental health consumers focusing on client-centered service models that are culturally relevant. The plan was widely accepted by mental health consumers and the community as a whole.
The community planning process was so successful that the County extended its contract with Harder+Company to provide technical assistance to the County and its contracting agencies around implementation of services, to develop an overarching evaluation framework to meet the State’s evaluation requirements, and to conduct a local evaluation component. As part of this work, we are implementing a first of its kind, County-wide assessment of the housing needs of the diverse population of people living with severe mental illness in Sonoma.
For more information on Harder + Company, please contact us at 415-522-5400.
The motto of the Sonoma County Mental Health Services Division
“
The staff of Harder bring a wealth of planning experience and organizational expertise, not to mention cultural competence. While some counties have struggled conducting public planning, Harder's efforts have resulted in a relatively smooth process.”
—Art Ewart, Mental Health Services Director, Sonoma County
