County Asks for Community Input on Mental Health Services Act Plan for 2014/15

Studies show that an average of 4.6% of a population are in need of services to treat a serious mental illness at any given time. That number doubles in a population where people live below 200% of the poverty level (an annual income of $23,340 for 1 person, $47,700 for a family of 4 for example).

With the current population of El Dorado County at approximately 181,000, that means anywhere between 8,329 and 16,114 people are in need of Mental Health Services.

Suicides in El Dorado County account for 3% of the deaths. Suicide prevention will be a recipient of funding through the act. A key element in encouraging individuals to seek mental health treatment, including treatment for those who may have suicidal thoughts, is addressing the stigma long associated with mental illness. Most suicides in the county are in the 45-64 age group and the youngest group, ages 5 to 24 saw the biggest percentage increase.

The County receives funds from the State of California to address the mental health needs of residents. They have released their Mental Health Services Act plan (MHSA) for the fiscal year 2014/15 on how they will handle mental health.

Barton Health

Barton held a mental health forum in January of this year which brought together a wide cross section of the community to discuss mental health strengths, barriers and needs in the South Lake Tahoe area.

The information discussed at this meeting is considered to be part of the community planning process for the purposes of developing the MHSA Plan.
Discussion identified some strengths within the mental health system in the South Lake Tahoe region, such as:
• Law enforcement Crisis Intervention Training/Team (CIT);
• Intensive Case Management (ICM) program;
• Use of tele-health;
• Treating mental health as a true medical emergency; and
• Training/assessment on mental health patients in the Emergency Department.

There were also some weaknesses/needs identified, including:
• Stigma and understanding of mental illness;
• Need for mental health training;
• Limited resources (staffing, psychiatry, therapy) and delay in access to service;
• Patients’ ability to identify their illness, the importance of attending appointments regularly, and education on their benefits;
• Transportation barriers (personal and ambulance transport out of the area);
• Lack of service integration/coordinated care, including barriers resulting from confidentiality/HIPAA requirements;
• Under-insured gap/access and affordability;
• Medicare services;
• Homeless patients and mental illness; and
• Substance abuse/dual diagnosis.

In the Draft Plan the County outlines how they propose to spend the budget. They'd like to have all community members weigh in on the plan.

Expenses proposed to be spent:

Youth and Children's Services: $375,000 to the Infant-Parent Center in Cameron Park; $150,000 to Big Brother/Big Sisters on the West Slope; $25,000 to a vendor not yet determined in South Lake Tahoe $150,000 for New Morning Youth and Family Services (said all through county including ,,SLT); Black Oak Mine School District $61,478; El Dorado Hills Community Vision $63,236; Tahoe Youth & Family Services for school programs $87,986; El Dorado County Office of Education for programs in all school $392,500.

Community Health Project:Mental Health First Aid county wide $120,0000; Relias Learning $31,710; Suicide Prevention $30,000 county wide; Foster Care Consortium Training $50,000 county wide; Community Outreach county wide $20,000.

Health Disparities: Foothill Indian Education Alliance $125,725; South Lake Tahoe Family Resource Center $$135,128; West Slope Latino Outreach $11,000; New Morning Youth & Family Services on West Slope $85,000.

Wellness Outreach Program for Vulnerable Adults: Wellness Centers county wide $50,000; EDCA Lifeskills on West Slope $135,000; Older Adult Program county wide $80,000.

Community Based Services: County wide programs $29,338; A new county community outreach person $35,000.

Admin Costs: $175,000.

Community Services and Support
Youth and family strengthening programs: Sierra Child and Family Services $450,000 (go where clients are); Summitview Child and Family Services $150,000 (go where clients are);Family Strengthening Academy $102,000 (county wide based on client's location); Sierra Child and Family Services $101,000; Summitview Child and Family Services $75,000; CASA $20,000.

Wellness and Recovery Services
West Slope Outpatient Wellness Center and South Lake Tahoe Wellness Center to receive $2,305,810; Adult Full Service Partnership - subsidized housing county wide $3,846,189; Summitview Child and Family Services on west slope $709,800; $50,500 to be spent on older adult programs county wide.

Transitional Age Youth
$445,390 to be spent where clients are in county.

Community System of Care
$1,076,567 to be spent county wide outreach and engagement activities

Monies also assisted people to get into the 6 MHSA units at the newly completed Aspens in South Lake Tahoe.

Public comment regarding the draft Plan Update may be submitted in writing through July 9, 2014 at 5:00 p.m. via email to MHSA@edcgov.us or via postal mail to: Health and Human Services Agency, Mental Health Division, MHSA Project Team, 768 Pleasant Valley Road, Suite 201, Diamond Springs, CA 95619. A public hearing, hosted by the El Dorado County Mental Health Commission, will be held after the close of the 30-day comment period.