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Mental Health Committee
The Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) and the CalSWEC MH Stipend Program
The Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) (Proposition 63) took effect January 1, 2005, after approval by voters in the November 2004 election.
It provides a unique opportunity to fundamentally transform how mental health care is conceptualized and delivered in California. This transformation will include a move toward a state-of-the-art, culturally competent system that provides recovery/wellness through independence, hope, personal empowerment, and resiliency for adults and seniors with severe mental illness and for seriously and emotionally disturbed children and their families.
MH Stipend Program
The California Social Work Education Center (CalSWEC) at the UC Berkeley School of Social Welfare has entered into a one-year contract with the California Department of Mental Health to provide stipends to full-time second-year MSW students enrolled in one of the 17 schools/departments of social work throughout the state. The mental health stipend program is similar to the child welfare Title IV-E program, where students who receive stipends are required to complete an employment payback agreement with a county public mental health agency or a community-based organization under contract to a county public mental health agency. During the 2005–2006 academic year, approximately 190 final-year MSW students are receiving the mental health stipend and will join the public mental health workforce upon graduation in mid 2006.
Dean James Midgley of the UC Berkeley School of Social Welfare, is the principal investigator and is assisted by CalSWEC staff in managing the contract and ensuring contract compliance. A Program Administration and Implementation Team, comprised of Dr. Beverly Buckles, Department of Social Work and Social Ecology, Loma Linda University; John Ryan, former director, Riverside County Department of Mental Health; and Janet Black, Professor Emeritus, CSU Long Beach, is based in the Inland Empire and provides program support and consultation to school and agency partners throughout the state. The project is overseen by CalSWEC's Executive Committee and Board of Directors.
MH Competencies
The Mental Health Competencies, which were developed by the MH Initiative Committee with input from multiple community stakeholder organizations, are being implemented in each of the 17 MSW programs in the state, in both classroom and agency fieldwork settings. The competencies address issues in recovery, resiliency, evidence-based practice, and psychosocial rehabilitation principles and are based on a series of principle statements adapted from the Mental Health Services Act (December 2004), the California Mental Health Master Plan: A Vision for California (March 2003) and the President’s New Freedom Commission (November 2003).
Discussions are underway with the CaliforniaDepartment of Mental Health to develop a continuing stipend program to build a professionally trained and competent workforce for the state's mental health system.
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