Background
The Public Mental Health Partnership (PMHP) aims to foster health equity, incorporate typically marginalized perspectives, and works to achieve excellence in care for underserved populations.
Created in 2018, the PMHP aims to support the workforce of Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (DMH) programs including the Homeless Outreach & Mobile Engagement (HOME) and Full Service Partnerships (FSP) programs that serve individuals with severe mental illness who are experiencing or at-risk for homelessness.
Services Provided
The PMHP provides a range of online trainings, webinars, and resources for professional development. In fiscal year 2020-21, PMHP will offer a curriculum for HOME and FSP providers that builds knowledge and skills in 4 core areas: (1) recovery-oriented services that are person-centered, engagement-focused, and culturally responsive; (2) trauma informed services that enhance client trust and safety while supporting provider wellbeing; (3) harm reduction services that support clients with co-occurring substance use, physical health needs, and vulnerabilities related to justice involvement; and (4) system-oriented services that emphasize care coordination and collaboration. In response to immediate priorities, PMHP is also developing and delivering trainings on grave disability, Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT), and conservatorship for HOME, FSP, and E6 outreach specialists.
Programs
The PMHP will train providers to support clients in important aspects of recovery including community integration, housing, and work and school achievement. The PMHP will help FSP and HOME providers work across systems and with diverse professionals better, including with peer providers. PMHP’s trainings also help ensure that all FSP and HOME teams gain expertise in forensics, in serving conservatees, and in supporting transitional age youth. Many of the PMHP’s trainings, webinars, and resources will be integrated into the Public Partnership for Wellbeing (Wellbeing4LA) Learning Center so that they can be accessible to providers into the future.
The PMHP will also support the transformation of the FSP program towards a team-based approach by hosting learning communities for FSP supervisors, navigators, employment specialists, psychiatrists/nurse practitioners, and substance use specialists. It will additionally support the HOME team in identifying effective ways to assess outcomes and capture lessons learned from the current outpatient conservatorship pilot.
Audience
The PMHP supports efforts to bring individuals experiencing severe mental illness out of institutions and into the community where they can find place, people, and purpose. It supports DMH providers in delivering welcoming and enriched services that are responsive to individual recovery needs. The PMHP team of skilled clinicians and researchers is committed to supporting the workforce at DMH as it advances its service to clients, system partners, and Los Angeles County as a whole.
Contact Information
Elizabeth Bromley, M.D., Ph.D., Director, PMHP
Associate Professor in Residence, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA