Contra Costa Behavioral Health System Transformation: 2015 Status Report
April 2015
Dear Contra Costa County Community:
I am excited to share with you the progress we have been making in our efforts to transform
our County’s behavioral health system. As you may recall, three years ago, when I was
appointed Director for the new Contra Costa Behavioral Health Division (BHD), I was charged
with overseeing the transformation of our separate Mental Health, Alcohol and Other Drug
Programs, and Homeless services into a welcoming, recovery-/resiliency-oriented, and
integrated system of care, one that would be better able to meet the needs of our clients, both
individuals and families, who have complex, co-occurring conditions.
We embarked on this journey knowing that such an integration effort would be a complicated
endeavor, however, we were motivated by a desire to improve quality of care and outcomes
for our clients and to enhance the overall efficiency of our operations. Significant research
across the country has documented the effectiveness of integrating services for populations
with co-occurring conditions and multiple needs, and here in Contra Costa County we have had
numerous successful examples of integrated programming. The decision to merge our Mental
Health, Homeless, and Alcohol and Other Drug programs and services was a decision to take
our many project-specific successes to a system level, thereby applying universally the lessons
we have learned about the long-term effectiveness of integrated, person/family-centered,
strength-based, culturally-informed and trauma-informed service delivery.
As we move towards the mid-point of our transformation effort, I want to report on what we
have achieved over the past three years, and point to what is left to be done. As we began our
change process, we set out four overarching goals which have directed our efforts. In the
chart/graphic below you can see an overview of our progress, measured by the initial goals we
set. As you can see, we are fully on track.
GOAL: Articulate an inspiring
system vision and mission—in
partnership with consumers,
families, advocates, county, and
CBO programs and staff—to
guide the transformation
process and ongoing operation
of the newly merged Behavioral
Health Division.
•PROGRESS: We have a collaborativelydeveloped vision and mission in place,
that effectively aligns all of our efforts
across multiple change structures.
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Contra Costa Behavioral Health System Transformation: 2015 Status Report
GOAL: Develop an integrated
operational infrastructure for the •PROGRESS: We have developed a structural
design for the Behavioral Health Division that is
Behavioral Health Division, to
guide both administrative function slated for implementation this year (2015).
and clinical service development.
GOAL: Create a system-wide
quality improvement partnership
framework (including both county
and CBO services) for maintaining
progress toward achieving the
vision of a person/family-centered
recovery-/resiliency-oriented
integrated system of care.
•PROGRESS: SPIID (Services & Programs
Integration Implementation Design)
Teams, inclusive stakeholder groups for
program design, encompassing
consumers and family members, County
program managers and line staff and
community-based organizations (CBOs),
guided us through our first phases of
integration. The County Integration
Roundtable will carry this work forward.
GOAL: Initiate deliberate steps
to implement person/familycentered, recovery-/resiliencyoriented integrated
programming and practice
throughout the county system,
in every policy, procedure,
program, and practice, by every
person providing care, with
every resource that we have, so
that ALL people with complex
issues coming to ANY door can
receive the services they need to
help them make progress toward
achieving hopeful and
meaningful goals.
•PROGRESS: The SPIID Teams have
put forth proposals with initial action
steps for implementing key
integration frameworks –
implementation of these action steps
has been approved by the Executive
Team and is underway for 2015
through the County Integration
Roundtable, with parallel
implementation by CBOs at the
agency level.
As you can imagine, this transformation effort has been both inspiring and difficult. Work is
underway on multiple levels simultaneously, creating a structure and process within which we
can address system level policy, program design and standards, clinical practice development,
and workforce training and competency. Not surprisingly, we have also had to confront a range
of obstacles and fears – change is never easy, and the changes required to merge multiple
systems of care into one integrated division are monumental. But through leadership and
committed perseverance at all levels, we are moving forward and accomplishing our goals. The
Behavioral Health Division, its operations and staff, are all stronger for this effort.
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Contra Costa Behavioral Health System Transformation: 2015 Status Report
In the subsequent pages of this report, I proudly share with you our accomplishments to date,
and applaud you and thank you for participating. For sake of clarity, we have organized the
report by the three Phases of our Behavioral Health System Transformation process. Each
Phase is described along with its key activities and accomplishments.
Phase 1: PLANNING & RESEARCH (2012-2013)
•Systems and process orientation and development.
Phase 2: PROGRAM DESIGN (2013-2015)
•Deep analysis and alignment of policies and practices.
Phase 3: IMPLEMENTATION & CONTINUOUS QUALITY
IMPROVEMENT (2014 - Ongoing)
•System transformation through implementation of prioritized
strategies.
Thank you for taking the time to read this report, and for joining us on this journey. With the
resolve, vision and creativity of all of our partners—consumers/family advocates, MH, AOD and
Homeless commissioners and advisory board members, executive leadership, CBO leadership,
other Health Services department divisions, and County program managers and line staff—we
are moving steadily toward our goal of an integrated, customer-oriented system of care that is
complexity capable, trauma-informed, culturally-informed, and recovery-/resiliency-oriented.
Sincerely,
Cynthia Belon, LCSW
Director
Contra Costa County Behavioral Health Division
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Living Room
Conversations
Program
Managers
Roundtable
Line Staff
Convenings
SPID Teams
Change
Agents
Prioritized strategies
for implementing
change:
low-hanging fruit,
core infrastructure
Functions as Learning
Community to discuss
all aspects of
integration, including
pilot projects and
change underway
Contributed to System
of Care Design
Research Resource
Notes
(Monthly)
Behavioral
Health
Mgmt.
Meetings
Steering Committee
SPIID Teams
Phase 3:
Implementation &
Continuous Quality
Improvement
(2014 - Ongoing)
Program design implemented per
Executive Team directives
Prioritized Strategies
Review, prioritize, and
implement common
frameworks for behavioral
health practices
Executive Team
Expanded to include CBOs, line
staff, consumers, family
members, Change Agents,
Steering Cmte members
County Pilot Project Implementation: move forward on low-hanging fruit
Community Participation Plan: Office of Consumer Empowerment conducted
focus groups and administered survey to consumers and family members to gather input
on system redesign
Phase 2: Program Design (2013-2015)
and core infrastructure strategies concurrently
Phase 1: Planning & Research (2012-2013)
Contra Costa Behavioral Health System Transformation: 2015 Status Report
Contra Costa Behavioral Health System Transformation Flowchart
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County Integration Roundtable: reinstated to carry out implementation of
prioritized strategies as directed by Executive Team
Contra Costa Behavioral Health System Transformation: 2015 Status Report
Contra Costa Behavioral Health System Transformation Overview
Our transformation process is being carried out in three phases. We are at the mid-point of the
process now, with the next three years being devoted to implementation based on the
collaborative and in-depth planning and design work that has occurred. The flow chart on the
preceding page provides a schematic overview of our process, and the subsequent pages of this
report provide a more detailed accounting of our progress, activities and accomplishments.
Phase 1: Planning & Research (2012-2013)
Effectively integrating three formerly separate systems of care into one Behavioral Health
Division (BHD) is a complicated process in which planning and design work must be carried out
on numerous simultaneous dimensions. In order to accomplish this task, we needed to develop
a shared vision to guide our efforts and integrated structures within which we could
collaboratively design our new Division. We also needed to engage our partners throughout
the County to participate in this shared process of transformation and to begin development of
the leadership, relationships, coordination and communication needed for the future Phases.
Our efforts were directed simultaneously on developing an internal infrastructure and
partnership within County operated systems, and on developing a wider partnership with all
our stakeholders—consumers, families, CBO providers, and other Health Services department
divisions—across all mental health, alcohol and other drug, and homeless prevention, early
intervention, and treatment services.
As such, during this first Phase, we established the transitional infrastructure we would need to
launch the transformation and we initiated the learning and relationship development essential
to true collaboration and partnership. We formed a variety of integrated groupings and
conducted simultaneous discussions that involved County leadership and staff, CBO partners,
and consumers and family members to help identify how the systems and its programs
currently function, and then to identify and assess opportunities for change and improvement.
These early discussions provided an essential base for the transformation process, allowing us
look at our own operations and assess their “recovery-/resiliency-oriented complexity
capability”, understand the operations of other systems and agencies, develop a shared vision,
understanding and vocabulary, and to forge relationships and trust.
While in the next section we lay out the concrete activities and accomplishments of this Phase,
it is important to note that one of the most important accomplishments was towards the
development of trust and understanding among the partners. This provides the essential basis
for the collaboration required in the design and implementation phases, as well as the
partnership that is needed continue the work of providing flexible, consumer-oriented services
in a fully integrated system.
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Contra Costa Behavioral Health System Transformation: 2015 Status Report
Phase 1 Activities and Accomplishments

Development Of A Mission And Vision to guide our transformation process and the new
integrated Behavioral Health Division: These were developed through a collaborative
stakeholder process, including County leadership and staff, and were approved on
August 20, 2012. Our mission and vision helps us ensure that all of our activities, across
all of our planning structures, are jointly aligned.
VISION
MISSION
• Contra Costa Behavioral Health
envisions a system of care that
supports independence, hope
and healthy lives by making
accessible behavioral health
services that are responsive,
integrated, compassionate, and
respectful.
• The mission of Contra Costa
County Behavioral Health, in
partnership with consumers,
families, staff and communitybased agencies, is to provide
welcoming, integrated services
for mental health, substance
abuse, homelessness and other
needs that promote wellness,
recovery and resiliency while
respecting the complexity and
diversity of the people we
serve.

A Bimonthly BHD Newsletter was initiated in May 2012 to facilitate communication by
providing updated information on the integration process.

Establishment Of Temporary Teams for Integration Transformation that were used for
planning, oversight and implementation: These group structures ensured that our first
phase of work was rooted in a collaborative process, informed by MH, AOD and
Homeless programs, by leadership and line staff, by CBO partners, and by consumers
and their families. Importantly, they launched the development of relationships and
increased understanding across systems and programs. Each team met during Phase 1
and provided essential feedback. Some of these groups continued in Phase 2 and 3,
others were active only for a brief span of time. The following is an overview of the key
groups for our team-based approach during our initial transformation.
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Contra Costa Behavioral Health System Transformation: 2015 Status Report
Phase 1 Activities and Accomplishments
Integrated BHD
Executive Team
•The Executive Team, with leadership from Mental Health,
Alcohol and Other Drug Services, and Homeless Programs,
meets weekly and guides the overall BHD integration and
planning process.
County Program
Managers
Roundtable
•The monthly Program Managers Roundtable consists of
program managers and supervisors from all Behavioral
Health Division programs. It works collaboratively as an
integrated team within County BHD operations, and
coordinates on the ground implementation of integration
efforts.
•In 2012, the PMR conducted case studies, engaged in
service mapping to identify gaps and opportunities for
integration and improved client services, and drafted
consolidated training tools.
•In 2015, the PMR will be renamed the County Integration
Roundtable to carry out Phase 3 implementation activities.
Behavioral Health
Integration Steering
Committee (BHISC)
•The Behavioral Health Integration Steering Committee was
a representative partnership between County BHD
leadership, CBO leadership, consumers, families, county
program managers and front line staff, Change Agents,
and representatives of the various commissions and
advisory boards.
•The BHISC developed a charter that outlined specific
integration activities in Phase 1 for each level of the
system: steps for County BHD and steps for each provider
agency, county program, and advocacy organization in the
direction of complexity capability.
Consumer And
Family Feedback
•Living Room Conversations were held by the Outreach and
Engagement Subcommittee of the BHISC to bring
consumers and families representing services in MH, AOD,
and Homeless programs together to have an open
dialogue and provide feedback to BHD leadership.
•The Office for Consumer Empowerment (OCE) carried out
surveys and focus groups of consumers and family
members to obtain their input on what an integrated
behavioral health system should look like.
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Contra Costa Behavioral Health System Transformation: 2015 Status Report
Phase 1 Activities and Accomplishments
Administrative
Design Teams
•Admin Design Teams with representation from MH, AOD,
and Homeless services developed recommendations in
Phase 1 for key administrative functions for the operations
of the Behavioral Health Division.
•The core administrative functions addressed included:
Workforce Development, Purchasing/Facilities, Contracts,
Data/Evaluation, Communications, Fiscal/Funds
Development, UR/UM, Safety & Preparedness, and MHSA.
•SPID (Services & Programs Integration Design) Teams
were hybrid all-sector mini-groups for program design,
encompassing County program managers and line staff,
and Change Agents.
•Four Services & Programs Integration Design (SPID)
Teams of County staff were created, organized by
population lifecycle: Children, TAY, Adults, Older Adults.
Services & Programs
Integration Design
(SPID) Teams
•Within each Team, County managers and staff met to
identify the service components of an integrated system
and delineate the practices, modalities, and approaches
needed. Each Team compiled a System of Care Design
Research Resource Notebooks with proposed strategies
for integration implementation for their lifecycle
population.
•The SPID Teams incorporated the following other Phase
1 team structures:
•The Change Agent Team was formed to represent front
line staff, consumers, and families from all County and
CBO programs, as well as advocacy groups. It met
bimonthly and members were charged with working in
partnership with leadership within their own programs
to make progress toward the shared vision, as well as to
work collectively as a team in partnership with system
leadership to create meaningful change in the direction
of universal recovery/resiliency oriented complexity
capability. The Change Agents were integrated into the
SPID/SPIID Team process.
•The Line Staff Peer Group was formed and was open to
all non-managerial Behavioral Health staff to provide
input into the integration process. This group was
integrated into the SPID/SPIID Team process.
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Contra Costa Behavioral Health System Transformation: 2015 Status Report
Phase 2: Program Design (2013-2015)
During Phase 2, we continued and deepened the discussion, planning and analysis initiated in
Phase 1. Primarily through the new SPIIDS Team structure, we identified key practices for
integrated care and developed common frameworks for how they should be implemented
across the four lifecycle populations. These frameworks addressed integration in both
administrative and clinical redesign, including:





Programs, services and service delivery: welcoming, hope, and access, delivery of
integrated care in any door, and collaborative partnership across the system
Clinical policies/procedures/tools: access, screening, assessment, recovery planning
Quality Improvement, Utilization Management, Data, and Performance Monitoring
Workforce development in partnership with front line staff
Financing (budgeting, billing, contracting) so that every dollar supports integration
Based on the common frameworks, action happened on two levels: 1) each agency and
program evaluated their own operations and made whatever accessible change they could in
the direction of improving Complexity Capability, based on current structure and operations
and 2) larger full system integration change was designed and planned for, anchored in a
continuous quality improvement partnership process.
Both levels of action concurrently focus on continuously improving programs, services, policies
and practices in accordance with the BHD Transformation Vision and Mission, the principles of
the “Comprehensive Continuous Integrated System of Care” (CCISC) and the frameworks
developed for each lifecycle population; developing workforce competency among all staff; and
establishing quality improvement partnerships to monitor that programmatic changes are
meeting system goals.
Integrated BHD
Executive Team
•The Executive Team, with leadership from Mental Health,
Alcohol and Other Drug Services, and Homeless Programs,
meets weekly and guides the overall BHD integration and
planning process.
Services & Programs
Integration
Implementation
Design (SPIID) Teams
•SPIID (Services & Programs Integration Implementation
Design) Teams were an expanded version of the SPID
Teams from Phase 1, adding consumers and family
members, and community-based organizations (CBOs).
•The SPIID Teams met monthly to develop common
frameworks for an integrated system of care and program
design proposals.
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Contra Costa Behavioral Health System Transformation: 2015 Status Report
Phase 2 Activities and Accomplishments

The SPID Teams Were Expanded in 2013 to become hybrid all-sector mini-groups called
SPIID (Services & Programs Integration Implementation Design) Teams, encompassing
consumers and family members, County program managers and line staff, communitybased organizations (CBOs), and change agents. These Teams expanded on the System
of Care Design Research Resource Notebooks, compiling program profiles, sharing
knowledge through case studies, identifying successful examples of integration already
underway in the County, and vetting topics and strategies.

The Identification of Integration Opportunities by the BHD Executive Team together
with SPIID Team leaders to infuse integrated practices into the infrastructure and overall
operations of the Division. Discussions and actions focused on:
o Designating staff to participate on internal teams, to reach out to CBOs to attend
key meetings, and to infuse the Division with integration activity as the norm.
For example, AODS and Homeless programs staff will participate in Children’s
Policy and Planning Meetings, attend the Contractor Luncheon, and work with
other County Departments.
o Exploration of development of trainings on shared practices and tools.
o Identification of funding opportunities, reasonable shifting of resources and
tasking of positions to accomplish the recommendations, through normal
budgetary channels and emerging opportunities.

Development of an Organizational Structure for the Behavioral Health Division by the
Executive Team that will facilitate integrated treatment, services and programs.
Restructuring to take place in 2015.

Development of Common Frameworks for Integration: The SPIIDS Teams developed
four common frameworks for an integrated system of care. These frameworks function
as design tools to facilitate movement towards implementation of an integration best
practice. They identify what is currently in place and what is needed, and they suggest
how to begin implementation. Frameworks have been developed around the following
topics:
o Integrated Case Conferencing
o Integrated Hubs
o Integrated Service Teams
o Integrated Treatment of Co-Occurring Disorders.

Development Of Next Steps Program Design Proposals: The SPIIDS Teams developed
program design proposals, which were approved by the Executive Team for 2015
implementation. These proposals lay out specific steps for initiating implementation of
the integration frameworks for each of the four lifecycle populations.
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Contra Costa Behavioral Health System Transformation: 2015 Status Report
Phase 2 Examples of Integration Work Underway
Throughout Phase 2, we have been asking ourselves the questions: What do we have? What
can we build on? What do we need? This section describes some examples of integration work
underway in Contra Costa County that exemplify our Mission and Vision.
West County Health Center (El Portal)
The El Portal Clinic provides mental health services to Medi-Cal and low income Central or
South Contra Costa adults including: assessment and evaluation, medication support services,
medication evaluation and management. The clinic also has specialized services for the TAY
population. The El Portal Clinic has been an integrated hub since January, 2014, and staffing
now includes and AOD specialist and Housing Specialist in addition to Mental Health staff.
Behavioral Health Access Line
The Mental Health Access Line is transitioning to the Behavioral Health Access Line. This
transition includes the integration of AOD and Homeless Programs into the Access line services
as well as improvements to the infrastructure of the system, such as decreasing wait times to
speak to clinician, reducing number of unnecessary calls, improving accuracy of connections to
clerks versus clinicians who can handle more challenging cases, and adding a call back feature.
Concord Health Center (Respite Center)
The Philip Dorn Respite Center, located in Concord, is a respite care program for homeless
adults who are discharging from local hospitals and require medical stabilization services.
Respite care refers to recuperative services for those homeless persons who may not meet
medical criteria for hospitalization, but who are too sick or medically vulnerable to reside in an
emergency shelter and cannot be returned to the streets. This program is a joint effort
between the Homeless Program and Health Care for the Homeless. The primary goal of this
program and all emergency housing programs is to get homeless persons off of the street and
help them achieve their highest level of self-sufficiency.
Services Include:
 Case management (resources, advocacy, and guidance)
 Medical care and linkages
 Enrollment in Benefits and health coverage
 Referral for alcohol/other drugs detox and residential treatment services
 Meals
 Housing Search assistance
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Contra Costa Behavioral Health System Transformation: 2015 Status Report
Phase 2 Examples of Integration Work Underway
Integrated Service Teams Doing Integrated Case Conferencing
 Children’s Mental Health – Wraparound
 Lincoln Child Center – MDFT
 Mental Health TAY Crossover Meetings
 Outreach teams, including Central County Outreach, Project HOPE
 Mobile Response Teams
 Health Care for the Homeless
 Anka MSCs and Case Rounds
 Forensics Team
 Discovery Housing Case Rounds
 Homeless Program Case Rounds – Concord Shelter, Respite Center
 Homeless Case Conferencing with entire family and all relevant children’s providers
 Older Adult WRAP
Examples of Integrated Service Teams
 HOPE Team (Lincoln Child Center)
 Health Care for the Homeless
 Anka ISTs
 Bridges to Home / Rubicon Programs ACT team
 Forensics Team
 MH Transition Team
 Young adult team in East County (Nierika House to transitional housing)
 Respite Center
Examples of Integrated Hubs
 Concord Health Center and Building
2 expansion
 El Portal
 RYSE Center Richmond
 Club House in Central County (client
driven program)





Calli House
Anka MSCs
GRIP
Clubhouse in Central County
Gale Uilkema House
Additional Examples of Integration
 Integrated Assessment: 211 Database; Access Line; Expanded access to Epic system;
Children’s Mental Health CANS implementation; Homeless programs working on
coordinated assessment; Concord and Brookside Shelters
 Liaisons: McKinney-Vento education liaison
 Peer Supports: Alumni Associations; Homies for the Homeless; Office for Consumer
Empowerment
For ongoing updates about additional examples of integration, please contact the County
Behavioral Health Division.
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Contra Costa Behavioral Health System Transformation: 2015 Status Report
Phase 3: Implementation & Continuous Quality Improvement (2014 Ongoing)
The Phase 3 focus is on ongoing implementation of the SPIID Team common frameworks for
integrated case conferencing, integrated hubs, integrated service teams, and integrated
treatment of co-occurring disorders. To initiate this work, the Executive Team will oversee
implementation of the program design proposals next steps for each lifecycle population, and
will work to strengthen staff capacity to implement through use of existing reporting structure,
resources and positions; explore development of trainings on shared practices and tools; and
be alert to every funding opportunity, reasonable shifting of resources or tasking of positions to
accomplish the recommendations, through normal budgetary channels and emerging
opportunities. In addition, the County Integration Roundtable will explore the internal
implementation these strategies across the Division.
Our Phase 3 system transformation work is an ongoing process of implementation to achieve
long-term system change. This work will be supported and monitored through Continuous
Quality Improvement (CQI) partnerships. Each agency or program will create Continuous
Quality Improvement Teams, composed of an empowered partnership between leadership,
front line staff and consumers that will organize the improvement process within that agency or
program, recommend and implement improvements, measure progress, and celebrate success.
This collective effort will fuel continuing progress that will be monitored and measured at each
of the following levels:

System policy direction (including funding, administrative, and clinical policies)

Co-occurring/complexity-capable program design and standards

Recovery-/resiliency-oriented, strength-based, integrated clinical practice development

Recovery-/resiliency-oriented, co-occurring/complexity-competent workforce
development.
Integrated BHD
Executive Team
•The Executive Team, with leadership from Mental Health,
Alcohol and Other Drug Services, and Homeless Programs,
meets weekly and guides the overall BHD integration and
planning process.
County Integration
Roundtable
•The County Integration Roundtable consists of program
managers and supervisors from all Behavioral Health
Division programs. It works collaboratively as an
integrated team within County BHD operations, and
coordinates on the ground implementation of integration
efforts.
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Contra Costa Behavioral Health System Transformation: 2015 Status Report
Phase 3: 2015 Action Focus

Implementation Of The New BHD Organizational Structure, developed by the Executive
Team.

Next Steps In Implementing Common Frameworks For Integration: The Executive Team,
in conjunction with the County Integration Roundtable, will facilitate the following
implementation actions for each lifecycle population (see next two pages).

Behavioral Health Access Unit: The Executive Team will complete the project of
integrating the Access Line, allowing callers in need of multiple behavioral health
services to get all the help they need by dialing one number.
CHILDREN
• Expand participation in existing integrated service teams (both internal and
external), particularly focusing on expanding involvement beyond Mental Health to
include AODS, Homeless Programs and CBOs. Initial focus will be on integrating BHD
internal teams, and on expanding participation in the Children’s Policy & Planning
Meetings and the Contractor Luncheon (both are external teams).
• Hire additional cross-trained and BH-certified care coordinators for these teams in
order to reduce case loads.
• Establish a consistent schedule of cross-training opportunities across the entire
system of care in order to help all staff move toward becoming generalists.
• Create integrated educational opportunities for family members of children who are
clients of the system.
• Promote initiation of integrated case conferencing through the development of a
Children’s Behavioral Health Linkage Network as an information-sharing venue,
based on an existing community resource network.
• Identify needed leadership and resources.
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Contra Costa Behavioral Health System Transformation: 2015 Status Report
TRANSITION-AGE YOUTH (TAY)
•Building on the existing County Transition Team, implement regional TAY integrated service
teams. These teams will be composed of MH, AOD and Homeless staff and will conduct
outreach and provide prevention and early intervention services, including outpatient AOD,
mental health and psych-education, independent living skills, and other services.
•Implement integrated mobile and on-site treatment teams, including transfer team capacity
to facilitate in-county transfers and a mobile crisis unit that can provide on-site intervention.
•The Executive Team will designate a subgroup to meet with the TAY SPIID Team to:
•Analyze data on number of TAY contacts, numbers served by region, and service needs in
order to determine FTE staffing needs
•Identify funding for the teams, including exploring Medi-Cal matching
•Determine access to HMIS and PSP
ADULTS
• Focus on El Portal and the Respite Center as first phase of integration. (Concord
Health Centers, East County Mental Health Clinic, West County Health Care,
Brookside and the Housing Continuum will be integrated in subsequent phases.)
• Executive Team will meet with staff from the two facilities to review integration
efforts underway and determine what else is needed, including:
• Rotating staff to ensure integrated services for clients
• Strengthened connections with CBOs, hospitals and psychiatric emergency
services through co-location or concrete referral agreements
• Training schedule linked with implementation protocols.
• Executive Team will coordinate staff to participate in case conferences (even when
co-location space is unavailable).
OLDER ADULTS
• Transform Older Adults Mental Health Team into Older Adults Behavioral Health
Team with MH, AOD and homeless services. Goal is to have regional integrated
service teams with mobile and on-site capacity, and operation out of hubs.
• Determine staffing needs and structure and identify funding sources.
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Contra Costa Behavioral Health System Transformation: 2015 Status Report
Conclusion
We are well on the way to an integrated and transformed Behavioral Health Division that
includes:




A new Behavioral Health Division culture (shared values, beliefs, norms)
Policies, practices and structures that sustainably support the new system
Integrated, complexity-capable programs and services
Complexity competent staff.
All of these together will allow us to achieve our core goal of integrated, customer-oriented
system of care that is complexity capable, trauma-informed, culturally-informed, and recovery/resiliency-oriented. This will means better care and outcomes for our clients, and it will mean
more efficient use of resources for our County.
Questions or comments about the Contra Costa Behavioral Health System Transformation may
be directed to BHCommunications@hsd.cccounty.us.
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