Mental Health Services Act ( Prop ) - 1624 Words

MHSA TERM PAPER Mental Health Services Act (MHSA Prop 63) The Mental Health Services Act is a monumental proposition that has helped many people for more than a decade. In California alone, close to 1.2 million adults and around 422,000 children live with a serious mental illness (State 2010). Without the proper treatment, suicide is the leading cause of death for a person battling an untreated mental illness (State 2010). With over thirteen billion dollars raised so far, MHSA has been the root of funding for mental health in California (Williams 2015). MHSA is still a work in progress. The act is nowhere near perfect, as a recent audit has shown, but it is certainly a step in the right direction. In 2004 an Assemblyman by the name of†¦show more content†¦These two men set out on a campaign with the theme â€Å"fix the broken promise† which referred to Ronald Regan’s promise to use the funding that came from the closing of many mental hospitals for the care of the discharged patients (Peck 2005). The campaign put toge ther â€Å"pilot programs† like the programs that are offered today in the actual act (Peck 2005). There was an overwhelming positive reaction with a â€Å"56% reduction in hospital stays, a 72% reduction in jail stays, and a 65% increase in people with full-time jobs† (Peck 2005). With law enforcement on their side (having seen what these programs would do to decrease the mentally ill population), they gained a tremendous amount of supporters for their cause. Darrell Stein dedicated a year of his life for this cause and helped raise close to $4.6 million for the campaign (Peck 2009). The Mental Health Services Act is designed to accumulate and distribute funds to county mental health programs (upon program plan approval). There are five different areas that the act helps with funding in mental health. The first is Community Services Support (CSS) which helps fund the pairing of mental health care with primary health care settings. CSS also provides mental health support services to people that aren’t able to receive the services elsewhere (Dchs.ca.gov 2015). CSS has some main objectives including reduction of homelessness, justice and child welfare system