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. 2013 May;103(5):786-94.
doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2013.301225. Epub 2013 Mar 14.

California's historic effort to reduce the stigma of mental illness: the Mental Health Services Act

Wayne Clark  1 , Stephanie N Welch, Sandra H Berry, Ann M Collentine, Rebecca Collins, Dorthy Lebron, Amy L Shearer
Affiliations

California's historic effort to reduce the stigma of mental illness: the Mental Health Services Act

Wayne Clark et al. Am J Public Health. 2013 May.

Abstract

In a historic effort to reduce the stigma of mental illness, California voters approved the Mental Health Services Act in 2004. The law funds a comprehensive statewide prevention initiative that places stigma and discrimination reduction at its center, with 25 projects providing interventions at the institutional, societal, and individual levels. Stakeholders selected specific strategies from the research-based California Strategic Plan on Reducing Stigma and Discrimination. Strategies range from social marketing to increase public knowledge to capacity building at the local level, including training that emphasizes participation by consumers of mental health services and cultural competence. Collectively, these strategies aim to foster permanent change in the public perception of mental illness and in the individual experience of stigma. We examined the context, planning, programming, and evaluation of this effort.

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Figures

FIGURE 1—
FIGURE 1—
Timeline of the Mental Health Services Act/Proposition 63: Prevention and Early Intervention Statewide Initiative. Note. MHSA = Mental Health Services Act; MHSOAC = Mental Health Oversight and Accountability Commission; PEI = prevention and early intervention; Prop. = proposition.
FIGURE 2—
FIGURE 2—
Change at multiple levels expected from stigma and discrimination reduction intervention. Note. SDR = stigma and discrimination reduction.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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    1. Mental Health Services Act: II findings and declarations. April 24, 2009. Available at: http://www.dmh.ca.gov/prop_63/mhsa/docs/mental_health_services_act_full_.... Accessed April 18, 2012
    1. New Freedom Commission on Mental Health Achieving the Promise: Transforming Mental Health Care in America. Executive Summary. Rockville, MD: Department of Health and Human Services; 2003. DHHS publication SMA-03–3831

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