San Luis Obispo County, CA

09/09/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 09/09/2025 15:52

Behavioral Health Releases Project Evaluation Report for MHSA Innovation Round Four (FY 2021-2025)

Author: Landon J. King
Date: 9/9/2025 2:20 PM

The Behavioral Health Services Department is excited to publish an evaluation of the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA)-funded Innovation projects for the fiscal years of 2021-2025. The evaluation was conducted by faculty and students from the Master of Public Policy program at California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) at San Luis Obispo.

The Behavioral Health Services Department is excited to publish an evaluation of the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA)-funded Innovation projects for the fiscal years of 2021-2025. The evaluation was conducted by faculty and students from the Master of Public Policy program at California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) at San Luis Obispo. The Mental Health Services Act Innovation component allows counties the opportunity to test new models and practices that address service gaps and other problems within the local mental health system. These projects are short-term (typically 4 years) and require extensive community input, data collection, and a thorough evaluation.
An Innovation project is designed primarily to contribute to learning, rather than providing a long-term County service. The County opted to partner with Cal Poly as a local institution of higher education as an objective third party evaluator to examine the efficacy and results of these two projects:
  • The Behavioral Health Education and Engagement Team (BHEET) - The BHEET Innovation project embedded peer system navigators within the county's local Medi-Cal health plan provider to offer mentorship, engagement, case management, navigation with community resources, and educational presentations and activities for individuals who are outside the service range of County services. The key learning goal of this project was to determine if engaging community mental health patients early, with short-term case management by individuals with lived experience, will lead to improved follow-through with referrals to traditional, longer term services and improved mental health outcomes
  • SoundHeal - The SoundHeal Innovation Project was designed to test the effectiveness of a holistic, mindfulness-based sound meditation therapeutic practice for individuals in outpatient behavioral health services. The SoundHeal project introduces an accessible, safe, and supportive means to engage reluctant clients in developing supplemental wellness practices. The key learning goal of this project was to learn whether this sound meditation technique will be effective for increasing court/diversion clients' wellness participation and ultimately, improving their mental health outcomes.
Cal Poly's Master of Public Policy program was awarded a contract with the County to conduct project evaluations and over the past year has interviewed program participants, reviewed program data, and made recommendations for projects going forward.

The Innovation Evaluation is available here: www.slocounty.ca.gov/departments/health-agency/behavioral-health/forms-documents/mental-health-services-act-(mhsa)/innovation-(inn)/mhsa-innovation-evaluation-report-2021-2025

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