The Strategy to Advance Transformational Change

Supporting Transformational Change in Mental Health Care

The Commission has supported system-level change by working closely with policymakers to align funding and authority and with counties to build their capacity to improve their response to escalating needs. With that experience, the Commission refined its core building blocks as a foundation for its future initiatives.

Core Strategic Building Blocks

The Commission’s Vision

All Californians experience wellbeing through a coordinated system that prioritizes prevention, early intervention and recovery-oriented services; builds on the strengths of communities and marginalized groups; and, creates opportunities for individuals to engage in meaningful and purposeful activities and helps them to thrive.

The Commission’s Mission

The Commission works to transform systems by engaging diverse communities and employing relevant data to advance policies, practices, and partnerships that generate understanding and insights, develop effective strategies and services, and grow the resources and capacity to improve positive behavioral health outcomes for every Californian.

Guiding Principles

The Commission’s guiding principles and core values reflect its aspirations for the behavioral health system and guide decisions:

• Authentic collaboration with diverse communities is required to reduce disparities and improve equity.
• Outreach and engagement with individuals impacted by the behavioral health system of care is an essential element of program effectiveness
• Tailored and culturally sensitive and competent services and supports are required for wellness and recovery.
• Accessible, affordable, and high-quality whole-person services and supports are required to improve outcomes.
• Public understanding and partnerships across agencies and communities are essential to aligning resources, improving services, and growing the capacities to serve everyone.
• A diverse, valued and resilient workforce is foundational to high quality services and reducing disparities.

Innovation and continuous improvement are required to achieve individual and societal wellbeing.

The Commission’s Roles

The Commission, with support from the Governor and the Legislature, has developed the distinct roles required to shape policies and drive practices and system-level improvements.  The roles advance the charge in the MHSA for the Commission, with its diverse public membership, to champion prevention, early intervention, comprehensive services and innovation as essential to an effective community mental health system.

• Build understanding of the potential to improve wellbeing and champion a common commitment to support the behavioral health of all Californians.
• Accelerate adoption of best practices to facilitate deployment and ensure the effectiveness of best practices proven to reduce the consequences of untreated behavioral health issues.
• Catalyze Innovation to develop better practices to advance human-centered iteration, disseminate learnings, support the deployment of new administrative practices, services and supports that address needs inadequately met by existing services.
• Provide accountability and oversight of system-level performance to understand and communicate the status of system improvement efforts and to recommend additional reforms to policies and practices.

The Commission’s Capabilities

To successfully advance its mission, the Commission relies on a strategic set of capabilities and tools aligned with the purpose:

• Driving policy: Research, public engagement, policy development and advocacy
• Driving practice: Financial incentives, technical assistance and evaluation
• Driving transformational change: Assessment of system performance and opportunities for improvement

Having refined its roles and its capabilities, the Commission seeks to improve its abilities to precisely assess where interventions can reduce the most harm and produce the most benefit.