BECOME A VOLUNTEER
As of January 4, 2018
SECTION 1. Title
This Act shall be known and may be cited as the “Mental Health Services Act.”
SECTION 2. Findings and Declarations
The people of the State of California hereby find and declare all of the following:
(a) Mental illnesses are extremely common; they affect almost every family in California. They affect people from every background and occur at any age. In any year, between 5% and 7% of adults have a serious mental illness as do a similar percentage of children — between 5% and 9%. Therefore, more than two million children, adults and seniors in California are affected by a potentially disabling mental illness every year. People who become disabled by mental illness deserve the same guarantee of care already extended to those who face other kinds of disabilities.
(b) Failure to provide timely treatment can destroy individuals and families. No parent should have to give up custody of a child and no adult or senior should have to become disabled or homeless to get mental health services as too often happens now. No individual or family should have to suffer inadequate or insufficient treatment due to language or cultural barriers to care. Lives can be devastated and families can be financially ruined by the costs of care. Yet, for too many Californians with mental illness, the mental health services and supports they need remain fragmented, disconnected and often inadequate, frustrating the opportunity for recovery.
(c) Untreated mental illness is the leading cause of disability and suicide and imposes high costs on state and local government. Many people left untreated or with insufficient care see their mental illness worsen. Children left untreated often become unable to learn or participate in a normal school environment. Adults lose their ability to work and be independent; many become homeless and are subject to frequent hospitalizations or jail. State and county governments are forced to pay billions of dollars each year in emergency medical care, long-term nursing home care, unemployment, housing, and law enforcement, including juvenile justice, jail and prison costs.
(d) In a cost cutting move 30 years ago, California drastically cut back its services in state hospitals for people with severe mental illness. Thousands ended up on the streets homeless and incapable of caring for themselves. Today thousands of suffering people remain on our streets because they are afflicted with untreated severe mental illness. We can and should offer these people the care they need to lead more productive lives.
(e) With effective treatment and support, recovery from mental illness is feasible for most people. The State of California has developed effective models of providing services to children, adults and seniors with serious mental illness. A recent innovative approach, begun under Assembly Bill 34 in 1999, was recognized in 2003 as a model program by the President’s Commission on Mental Health. This program combines prevention services with a full range of integrated services to treat the whole person, with the goal of self-sufficiency for those who may have otherwise faced homelessness or dependence on the state for years to come. Other innovations address services to other underserved populations such as traumatized youth and isolated seniors. These successful programs, including prevention, emphasize client-centered, family focused and community-based services that are culturally and linguistically competent and are provided in an integrated services system.
Click here to read and download SECTIONS 1-19.
