SECTIONS 5820-5822 - California Statutes

WELFARE 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).