Working Well Together (WWT) is a newly formed collaborative of four statewide client, family, parent/caregiver and mental health training and technical assistance organizations: California Network of Mental Health Clients, NAMI California, United Advocates for Children and Families and the California Institute of Mental Health. Together, these organizations utilize their combined expertise, experience, grassroots networks and mental health system connections to affirm wellness and recovery from mental illness.

WWT was recently awarded a contract from the State Department of Mental Health (DMH) to initiate a state wide client, family member and parent/caregiver employment technical assistance center. Working Well Together is referring to the training and technical assistance center as the WWT TAC. Funded by the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA), the primary goal of the WWT TAC is to ensure public mental health agencies are prepared to recruit, hire, train, support and retain multicultural clients, family members and parents/caregivers as employees.

County agencies, community-based organizations, clients, family members and parents/caregivers involved with WWT TAC envision a client and family driven, recovery-oriented public mental health system built upon the employment of multicultural clients, family members and parents/caregivers. The deliberate and intentional involvement of clients, family members and parents/caregivers is a key contributor to building an effective system that improves the outcomes of those it serves and as indicated by the MHSA.

On November 2004, California voters approved Proposition 63, the Mental Health Services Act (Act), amending Welfare and Institution Code Sections 5480-5898. The Act provides a vision for transformation in the delivery of public mental health services. Specifically, the Act requires the development and implementation of client and family driven, integrated, culturally competent, and recovery/resiliency oriented services within a collaborative environment. Furthermore, services must be tailored to the needs identified by local, regional and statewide stakeholders for children, transition aged youth, adults and older adults. In addition, WIC 5820(8)(g) requires the promotion of the employment of mental health clients and family members in the mental health system.

The Department of Mental Health began working on implementation of the Mental Health Services Act upon its passage in November of 2004 Subsequent to an extensive stakeholder process and in collaboration with its community partners, in July 2007 the Department released the guidelines for implementation of the Workforce Education and Training component of the Act with the goal to develop and maintain a competent and diverse workforce capable of effectively meeting the mental health needs of the public. As a result of stakeholder input, the Department adopted as one of its critical objectives the promotion of meaningful employment of consumers and family members within the public mental health system. As one of the strategies toward this objective the Department proposed to allocate Workforce Education and Training funds to create a statewide client and family member technical assistance center.

The purpose of the center is 1) to assist county public mental health and community based organizations with gathering the tools they need to successfully employ consumers and family members within their organizations and 2) to provide county public mental health and community based organizations with the training and tools to create work environments that welcome and value consumer and family member employees and their lived experience.