The Mental Health Services Act (MHSA, the Act) provides for the Innovation Component of the County’s Three-Year Program and Expenditure Plan (Three-Year Plan). Pursuant to the Act, Part 3.2, funding under this component is to be used to: increase access to underserved groups; increase the quality of services, including better outcomes; promote interagency collaboration and increase access to services.

Innovations are defined as novel, creative and/or ingenious mental health practices/approaches that are expected to contribute to learning, which are developed within communities through a process that is inclusive and representative, especially of unserved and underserved individuals and which are aligned with the General Standards identified in the MHSA and set forth in Title 9 of the California Code of Regulations, Section 3320. The Innovation Component allows Counties the opportunity to “tryout” new approaches that can inform current and future mental health practices/approaches.