State Codes and Statutes
Statutes > California > Wic > 5820-5822WELFARE AND INSTITUTIONS CODE
SECTION 5820-5822
5820. (a) It is the intent of this part to establish a program with dedicated funding to remedy the shortage of qualified individuals to provide services to address severe mental illnesses. (b) Each county mental health program shall submit to the department a needs assessment identifying its shortages in each professional and other occupational category in order to increase the supply of professional staff and other staff that county mental health programs anticipate they will require in order to provide the increase in services projected to serve additional individuals and families pursuant to Part 3 (commencing with Section 5800), Part 3.2 (commencing with Section 5830), Part 3.6 (commencing with Section 5840), and Part 4 (commencing with Section 5850) of this division. For purposes of this part, employment in California's public mental health system includes employment in private organizations providing publicly funded mental health services. (c) The department shall identify the total statewide needs for each professional and other occupational category and develop a five-year education and training development plan. (d) Development of the first five-year plan shall commence upon enactment of the initiative. Subsequent plans shall be adopted every five years. (e) Each five-year plan shall be reviewed and approved by the California Mental Health Planning Council. 5821. (a) The California Mental Health Planning Council shall advise the State Department of Mental Health on education and training policy development and provide oversight for the department' s education and training plan development. (b) The State Department of Mental Health shall work with the California Mental Health Planning Council so that council staff is increased appropriately to fulfill its duties required by Sections 5820 and 5821. 5822. The State Department of Mental Health shall include in the five-year plan: (a) Expansion plans for the capacity of postsecondary education to meet the needs of identified mental health occupational shortages. (b) Expansion plans for the forgiveness and scholarship programs offered in return for a commitment to employment in California's public mental health system and make loan forgiveness programs available to current employees of the mental health system who want to obtain Associate of Arts, Bachelor of Arts, master's degrees, or doctoral degrees. (c) Creation of a stipend program modeled after the federal Title IV-E program for persons enrolled in academic institutions who want to be employed in the mental health system. (d) Establishment of regional partnerships among the mental health system and the educational system to expand outreach to multicultural communities, increase the diversity of the mental health workforce, to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness, and to promote the use of web-based technologies, and distance learning techniques. (e) Strategies to recruit high school students for mental health occupations, increasing the prevalence of mental health occupations in high school career development programs such as health science academies, adult schools, and regional occupation centers and programs, and increasing the number of human service academies. (f) Curriculum to train and retrain staff to provide services in accordance with the provisions and principles of Part 3 (commencing with Section 5800), Part 3.2 (commencing with Section 5830), Part 3.6 (commencing with Section 5840), and Part 4 (commencing with Section 5850) of this division. (g) Promotion of the employment of mental health consumers and family members in the mental health system. (h) Promotion of the meaningful inclusion of mental health consumers and family members and incorporating their viewpoint and experiences in the training and education programs in subdivisions (a) through (f). (i) Promotion of the inclusion of cultural competency in the training and education programs in subdivisions (a) through (f).
