California Department of Mental Health

Right Column

INTRODUCTION

The department is dedicated to providing its services in a humanistic fashion with compassion and concern.

Every member of the Department of Mental Health team plays an active, participative role that effectively utilizes the skills and talents of each. We work together cooperatively, recognizing the power of our combined efforts exceeds what we can accomplish individually. The positive results of our combined efforts is a decisive factor for people choosing to locate here, work here, and stay in our community.

We encourage opportunities to advance knowledge with free-flowing information between our physicians, staff, and administrators to create access to existing and new channels of care delivery. We encourage opportunities to advance career potential that achieve a level of competence and morale that attract and maintain the highest quality staff and patient care. We consistently provide patient-centered, state-of-the-art care in a professional and caring environment.

MISSION

The California Department of Mental Health, entrusted with leadership of the California mental health system, ensures through partnerships the availability and accessibility of effective, efficient, culturally competent services. This is accomplished by advocacy, education, innovation, outreach, understanding, oversight, monitoring, quality improvement, and the provision of direct services.

VISION

The California Department of Mental Health envisions a mental health system where all of our customers’ needs are met.

  • Consumers live, work and learn in their community.
  • The community is safe and industrious.
  • Relationships are primary among employees, consumers, families, and business partners.
  • Diversity is appreciated as a source of strength and balance.
  • Society is aware and appreciates the realities of mental illness.
  • Success is determined through outcomes.
  • The department meets challenges through partnerships, creativity, flexibility, innovation and research.
  • Consumer and family needs drive the creation of public policy.

Everyone takes responsibility for continuous improvement of the mental health system. The California Department of Mental Health’ s vision is embraced as a common goal by our employees, consumers, families, and business partners.

CORE VALUES

We, the California Department of Mental Health, are dedicated to:

  • providing leadership, innovation and advocacy in the provision of mental health services to fully succeed in our mission.
  • providing a supportive organization which fosters and recognizes the energies and talents of our employees and other stakeholders; where innovation, leadership, training and recognition are essential.
  • endeavoring to provide consistent quality and professional mental health services that are driven by effective research and outcomes.
  • meeting and striving to exceed our stakeholders expectations of our performance.
  • being sensitive and responsive to the needs of consumers, families, co-workers and other stakeholders and treating everyone with fairness, honesty, courtesy and respect.
  • establishing a fully integrated and coordinated mental health system by developing partnerships internally, as well as with other departments and concerned stakeholders.
  • striving for informed, responsible and collaborative decision-making at all levels, drawing upon the wisdom and knowledge found throughout the organization.
  • creating an environment which fosters open communication, where ideas can be freely expressed, constructively challenged; where creativity and productivity are encouraged, recognized and rewarded.
  • making each person a part of the team by valuing employee creativity and acknowledging that creativity means taking risks and learning from mistakes.

APPLICATIONS FROM DIVERSE BACKGROUNDS ENCOURAGED

The Department of Mental Health is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes and encourages a diversity of potential employees to apply for employment. Recognizing that California is one of the most diverse states in the country, we are committed to having a workforce that mirrors and reflects the diversity of the clients we serve.

This diversity exhibits itself in a mixture of ethnic, linguistic, and cultural differences accompanied by various values, customs, traditions, and beliefs. Therefore, the Department is dedicated to ensuring that mental health services are provided from a "cultural competency" approach.

We are also seeking individuals who have worked with diverse ethnic/cultural communities and persons with bilingual language competency skills to work with California's large Limited English Proficiency speaking populations.

Cultural competency is defined by DMH as "a set of congruent practice skills, behaviors, attitudes, and policies that come together in a system, agency, or among consumer providers and professionals that enables that system, agency, or those professionals and consumer providers to work effectively in cross-cultural situations." The Surgeon General report (1999) defines Cultural Competency as the ability "to recognize and to respond to cultural concerns of ethnic and racial groups, including their histories, beliefs, and value systems." The Department recognizes the vlaue this perspective plays in successful outcomes and quality care of our clients/patients.

The Department is committed to establishing, maintaining and supporting a diverse and culturally competent workforce at all levels of Headquarters and the State Hospitals. In recognizing the value, knowledge, skills and perspectives of a diverse staff, we are in a better position to provide culturally competent services to the patients we serve. In support of this commitment the Department is doing the following:

  1. Developing a framework to deliver culturally competent services through an
    active integration of culturally competent planning and services.
  2. Supporting strategies for retaining diverse staff.
  3. Encouraging and supporting the expansion of cultural knowledge through
    education and training that will allow staff to enhance their abilities to provide
    culturally competent services.