The Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) is made up of five components:
Community Services & Support
Community Services & Support (CSS) is the largest component of the MHSA and receives 76% of the Mental Health Services Fund. It supports comprehensive mental health treatment for people of all ages living with serious emotional disturbance (SED) or serious mental illness (SMI).The CSS component is focused on community collaboration, cultural competence, client and family driven services and systems, wellness focus, which includes concepts of recovery and resilience, integrated service experiences for clients and families, as well as serving the unserved and underserved. Housing is also a large part of the CSS component.
Prevention & Early Intervention
MHSA dedicates 19% of its allocation to Prevention and Early Intervention (PEI), which is intended to prevent mental illness from becoming severe and disabling and to improve timely access for people who are underserved by the mental health system. The goal of the Prevention & Early Intervention (PEI) component of the MHSA is to help counties implement services that promote wellness, foster health, and prevent the suffering that can result from untreated mental illness. The PEI component requires collaboration with consumers and family members in the development of PEI projects and programs.
Innovation
MHSA designates 5% of a County’s allocation to the Innovation component, which specifically and exclusively dedicates funds to trying new approaches that contribute to learning rather than expanding service delivery. The goal of Innovation is to increase access to underserved groups, increase the quality of services, promote interagency collaboration and increase access to services. Counties select one or more goals and use those goals as the primary priority or priorities for their proposed Innovation plan. Projects are time-limited to a maximum of five years and evaluated for effectiveness and consideration for continued funding through CSS, PEI or other funds.
Capital Facilities & Technological Needs
The Capital Facilities & Technological Needs (CFTN) component works towards the creation of a facility that is used for the delivery of MHSA services to mental health clients and their families or for administrative offices. Funds may also be used to support an increase in peer-support and consumer-run facilities, development of community-based settings, and the development of a technological infrastructure for the mental health system to facilitate the highest quality and cost-effective services and supports for clients and their families.
Workforce Education & Training
The goal of the Workforce Education & Training (WET) component is to develop a diverse workforce. Clients and families/caregivers are given training to help others by providing skills to promote wellness and other positive mental health outcomes, they are able to work collaboratively to deliver client-and family-driven services, provide outreach to unserved and underserved populations, as well as services that are linguistically and culturally competent and relevant, and include the viewpoints and expertise of clients and their families/caregivers.
