I wanted to leverage resources to support standardization for county behavioral health plans. County behavioral health plans are responsible for the provision of behavioral health services to person with severe and persistent mental illness and services for substance use disorders to Medi-Cal beneficiaries in their counties. There are 58 counties in California ranging in size from smallrural to extra-large with much variation in how services are delivered. For my project, I focused on training for individuals whom the county designates “writing authority” which authorizes a person the professional responsibility to place a person on an involuntary hold when the person’s mental disorder makes them a danger to themselves, and/or others and/or gravely disabled. I will refer to this as “5150/5585” which are the regulatory sections of the Welfare and Institutions Code (“5150” for adults and “5585” for minors). The regulation defines persons who are designated to perform the activity of involuntary detainment, including the role of the county in the designation of this authority. To receive this designation, an individual must complete training on professional and legal responsibilities of performing this activity. Each of the 58 counties in California develops and delivers this training to persons who may be granted 5150/5585 “writing authority”. The training content and hours in training varies from county to county. There is no standard statewide training.

Publish Date: 
Wednesday, June 1, 2022
Cohort: 
First name: 
Lucero
Last name: 
Robles