Colusa County Behavioral Health receives funding

Colusa County was among the first 10 out of all the 58 California Counties to be approved for additional Mental Health Services Act funding.  Of those 10 counties approved 4 were designated Small Counties.” said Charlette Lauppe, WET Plan Early Implementation Consultant.

Under the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) additional funding was made available to each county through implementation of their approved county Community Services & Support (CSS) plan.   County public mental health agencies were invited to submit a Workforce Education and Training (WET) plan that is a component of a three-year program and expenditure plan.   Each County WET Plan must address the shortage of qualified individuals who provide services in our County’s Public Mental Health System. 

Lauppe worked on the plan along with Colusa County MHSA Coordinator, Steffany Ritchie. Once the plan was completed and submitted, it was approved by the State Department of Mental Health on July 7, 2008.   Colusa County Department of Behavioral Health will receive $224,000 for Workforce Education & Training (WET) funding to be expended over a remaining two year program period.

“The process took over 10 months of planning which involved numerous agency and community stakeholder meetings who provided input for the WET Plan.  Once the plan was written and approved by the Director of Colusa County Behavioral Health, Curtis Boewer, a 30 day public review of the plan was conducted during February and March 2008”, said Lauppe.

The WET plan contains education, training and workforce development programs and activities that contribute to developing and maintaining a culturally competent mental health workforce.  Individuals with client and family member experience, that will be able to provide client and family driven services, are encouraged to participate in WET activities and programs. Overall, the goal of MHSA is to provide a mental health service delivery system that promotes wellness, recovery, and resiliency.  The Colusa County WET Plan has designed activities that support MHSA goals.

• Action #1 - Service Delivery Training

• Action #2 - Plan Coordinator

• Action #3 - Consumer Group Coordinator

• Action #4 - All Staff Training Plan

• Action #5 - Planning and Early Implementation Consultant

• Action #6 - Client Leadership Plan

• Action #7 - Adult Workforce Opportunity Plan

• Action #8 - Youth Workforce and Career Programs

• Action #9 - Registered Interns Supervisory Program

• Action #10 - Scholarship Fund Program

 All 10 Actions fall within categories designed to support MHSA objectives:

• Workforce Staffing Support

• Training and Technical Assistance

• Mental Health Career Pathway Programs

 Each Action promotes and supports building a public mental health delivery system:

• Promotes wellness, recovery, and resilience

• Promotes culturally competent service delivery

• Promotes meaningful inclusion of clients/family members

• Promotes an integrated service experience for clients and their family members

Lauppe commented that the first implementation of the actions will begin in July.  “Keven Partridge of Chico will begin a series of monthly training sessions beginning with front service staff,” she said.  “One of the goals of this training is to insure that mental health consumers and family members receive the best possible service delivery at their first point of contact with Colusa County Department of Behavioral Health.  We want to look at how to encourage wellness and recovery in all that we do for our families.”