Mental Health Services Act

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NVC and the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) of California

Intention

The intention of this page is to discuss and explore the possible relevance of the Mental Health Services Act aka Prop 63 of California to the support of Nonviolent Communication=

MHSA Background

The MHSA was passed by the voters of California in 2004 as Proposition 63 to encourage the support and development of services to people with severe mental illness. The money's (approximately 750M$ in fiscal year 2005-2006 ) is distributed to the County Mental Health systems by the http://www.dmh.ca.gov/ California Department of Mental Health] (DMH) under the supervision of the Oversight and Accountability Commission

Planning and distribution of the funds is being accomplished in five phases

Community Services and supports program (CSSP)
Capital (buildings) and information technology (IT)
Education and training (human resources) (WET)
Prevention and early intervention (PEI)
Innovation

Innovation

Innovation is concerned with the introduction of innovative programs which have significant likelihood of improving Mental Health Services. As NVC has been shown to have a significant effect on the delivery of Mental Health Services, it would appear that programs based on NVC have a significant likelihood of receiving support from MHSA Funds.

In Jan 09 , DMH published a set of Notice 09-02 concerning innovative programs.

Benefits of using NVC in a mental health setting

Melanie Sears has published two books about the use of NVC in Mental Health settings. One is Choose your words, a book describing how NVC is used in a mental health system. The other is Humanizing Health Care with NVC, a book describing how the use of NVC can improve the delivery of mental health services.


Reimer, D. and Corwin (2007, Fall) discusses the introduction of NVC into the intensive Treatment Unit (ITU) at Mendota Mental Health Institute (MMHI) in Madison, Wisconsin , a medium security forensic unit.The paper shows how the use of NVC reduced the number of hours of seclusion and restraint from 92 hrs to 4 hrs over a four year period.


(ed.note more discussion and images needed)'

Later [Reimer,D. Corwin C. Application of Core Strategies: Reducing Seclusion & Restraint Use, On The Edge, 13(3) (2007)
Reimer showed that the intorduction of NVC on a ??? unit reduced the number of patient restraints.

MTU Violence Indicators Creating Sanctuary.JPG

Not only was their a reduction of forcible restraints for the patients, the staff also experienced an increase in safety too.

No of lost days creating sanctuary.JPG


Kathi Aichner has written a report on the use of NVC at Atascadero State Hospital which showed that the patients were very enthusiastic about its use.

Recommendations

Giraffes interested participating in the development of Innovative programs under the Mental Health Services Act might contact the MHSA department of their (or neighboring) County Mental Health Departments.

References

Aichner,K. NVC at Atascadero State Hospital, personal communication, 2008
Reimer, D. Creating Sanctuary: Reducing Violence in a Maximum Security Forensic Psychiatric Hospital Unit, On The Edge - Spring 2009
Reimer,D. Corwin C. Application of Core Strategies: Reducing Seclusion & Restraint Use, On The Edge, 13(3) (2007)
Sears, M. Choose your words, CareInAction (2007)
Sears M.,Humanizing Health Care with NVC, iUniverse, Lincoln Ne, (2006)


Please add any other citations to the use of NVC in Mental Health Settings to this page. If you experience difficulty in adding to this page directly , please e-mail the submission to John directly.