Orange County Mental Health Services Act Program Analysis
The Orange County MHSA Program Analysis was a MHSA-funded report carried out by the University of California, San Diego. The analysis has two main parts, the Needs and Gaps Analysis and the Net Benefit of MHSA CSS and PEI Programs.
The Needs and Gaps Analysis provides estimates of the Prevalence of Mental Health Symptoms and Service Utilization in Orange County, examines Geographic Access to Behavioral Health Services using data from the Orange County Health Care Agency Behavioral Health Services Directory, and identifies Barriers to Behavioral Health Care from Provider/Advocate and Cultural/Linguistic Minority Community Members’ Perspectives using data from focus groups. A final section provides recommendations based on the findings from this report.
The Net Benefit of MHSA Programs provides estimates of the costs and benefits of programs implemented under the MHSA within Orange County under two of the six MHSA funding streams: Community Services and Supports (CSS) and Prevention and Early Intervention (PEI). Multiple methods were used to identify the benefits and costs of CSS and PEI programs including a review of existing County reports, analysis of County administrative data, surveys of PEI providers, and a literature review of the Evidence Based Practices (EBPs) currently offered by PEI programs. Using this information, the evaluation team developed a rubric to provide an overall assessment of each program.
The MHSA Program Analysis was completed on November 15, 2019 at a total cost of $970,000. The Executive Summary and Net Benefit of MHSA Programs were never released to the public. I was the main researcher in the MHSA office at the time, and was told that Supervisor Andrew Do, who was a member of the Orange County Mental Health Board at that time, did not want these reports to be released.
Download the reports below: