Summary of Themes from Community Engagement

The Commission is in the best position to see the statewide perspective on mental health issues and provide some policy continuity while still recognizing unique regional issues and needs.

Increasing awareness about mental illnesses and mental health in general population. Decreasing the stigma around and misunderstanding of mental disorders and illnesses.

Your willingness to reach out to the public and diverse communities of California State. Allowing community to speak about what they need.

Shaping the Mental Health System in California involves power in numbers and a willingness to include all voices and feedback from consumers, families and community partners. “Nothing about us, without us.”

Promote mental health and well-being for school kids, to drive multi-generational impact in years to come. This can be done by educating the public about mental health, supporting PEI programs, and promoting mental health focused at schools. 

The Commission’s key opportunity is to fill a significant gap in both funding and partnership in supporting mental health in our school (LEA) eco-system.

The Commission’s highest impact role is its approval and awarding of funding for impactful county projects, community programs, and advocacy initiatives.”

Commission staff has good experience administering contracts in order to decrease disparities, increase community engagement, and implement pilot projects.

Most important in my community are mental health disparities, particularly for the African American population, gang-involved/affected.

African Americans are overrepresented in criminal justice, foster care, etc., and they need to be treated and receive specialized services.

Providing pathways for innovative programs to serve their communities and ensuring the counties are supporting the state initiatives.

Encouraging and developing innovative approaches to Mental Health. Helping to create and support state-wide initiatives

Have data collection for everything we’re doing all across the board through all community organizations, and when people find what works, we need to put that out there & say this has been great for us or has helped me, but we need a strong data collection and have that open & available to everyone who uses the system.

The Commission can drive accountability for the system overall. For example, by requiring a standard of care for services purchased with MHSA dollars. Also, by gathering reliable and consistent data on access and performance, the Commission can demonstrate the value of data-driven policy and practice.

One thing missing is peer support/peer services needed to support the mental health community through CA, with ALL communities, especially SMI/unhoused communities.

Using peers is an essential part of the process; I would like to add that maybe we can develop relationships with peers and use peers to help with/follow through for people with/ SMI.

An inclusive and compassionate workforce towards all employees is more likely to be engaged, motivated, and have higher levels of well-being.