About – Proposition 63

The Mental Health Services Act (Prop. 63)

In November 2004 California Voters passed Proposition 63, the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA).  Prop. 63 provided the funding and the framework needed to transform the California community mental health system from a crisis-driven system to one focused on prevention and wellness and to expand services to reach previously underserved populations and all of California’s diverse communities. The MHSA provides strategies for the following prevention and early intervention programs:

• Suicide Prevention (SP)
• Stigma and Discrimination Reduction (SDR)
• Student Mental Health Initiative (SMHI)

The Student Mental Health Initiative (SMHI)

The Student Mental Health Initiative (SMHI) promotes and applies strategies to strengthen student mental health statewide across K-12 educational systems and through institutions of higher education.  This initiative focuses activities on key areas noted below and advances collaboration between educational settings and county services.

• Campus-Based Mental Health Programs
  • Mental Health Awareness Programs
  • Peer to Peer Support Activities
  • Suicide Prevention Programs
  • Referral and Linkage
• Systems and Policy Development
• Training and Technical Assistance
• Evaluation
• Integrated service experiences and interactions
• Qualified, culturally competent and diverse public mental health workforce with the knowledge and skills to work with age-specific and racially, ethnically and culturally diverse populations

The University of California SMHI Award

The passing of the California Mental Health Services Act (prop. 63) was timely for the UC and provided one avenue to respond to the growing demand for mental health services. In 2011, the UC Student Mental Health Oversight Committee spearheaded collaboration between campus Counseling & Psychological Services and UC Office of the President (UCOP) Student Affairs. This collaboration resulted in a proposal and subsequent award of a 7.7 million dollar award funded by the California Mental Health Services Authority (CalMHSA). Funding was awarded for a 3 year term (June 2011 through 2014) and is to be applied towards fulfilling the following initiatives:

UC Initiatives:

• Training for students, faculty/staff, and graduate teaching/research assistants on how to recognize and respond to students in distress
• Enhance peer programming
• Development of a comprehensive, system-wide approach to suicide prevention
• Launch of marketing and social media campaigns to reduce stigma and discrimination for those living with a mental illness
• Production of system-wide public service announcements (PSA’s) and training videos
• Host a higher education mental health best practice conference