Third Sector works with communities and our government agencies to transform how we deliver mental and behavioral health services to support people’s recovery and well-being.
Our Approach to Behavioral Health
In America, we've just begun to address the variety of mental and behavioral health challenges we are all grappling with. As a result, we have not built a robust service delivery system in this space.
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We fail to consistently deliver long-term outcomes for individuals living with behavioral health challenges through our agencies’ programs. Too many of our most vulnerable people experience repeated crises, are often grappling with siloed systems that make seeking help difficult, and are struggling to be well enough to lead the lives they are hoping to lead.
We provide technical assistance that helps our government agencies reorient policy, practice, and behaviors to better support and serve people with behavioral health challenges. Our projects have built provider capacity; reoriented contracts and funding toward long-term outcomes; reduced disparities to improve recovery, well-being, and social connectedness; and reduced homelessness, involvement in the criminal-legal system involvement, and the use of emergency services.
Our work is rooted in a vision of a future where all people can achieve well-being, no matter their race, background, or circumstance. This is a future where people who have mental health challenges and/or other illnesses such as substance abuse are treated with dignity and humanity, where we create public systems to provide the resources and support they need to thrive, and where they can achieve stability and recovery as they define it for themselves.
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Featured Projects
| Project Name | Scope | Location | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Incorporating Consumer Voice in Outcomes Design & System Improvements | County | CA | Active |
| Sutter-Yuba’s iCARE Innovation Project seeks to increase access to behavioral health care for underserved groups not currently engaged in traditional behavioral health services. Third Sector is supporting outcomes framework design and outcomes impact assessment for iCARE by soliciting and integrating input from consumers to both inform continuous improvement efforts and contribute to consumer-defined recovery metrics. | |||
| Designing Outcomes-Focused Mental Health Services in Los Angeles County | County | CA | Closed |
| Third Sector partnered with the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (LACDMH) to transform approximately $300 million in service provider contracts, creating the nation's largest system of outcomes-focused mental health provider contracts. This multiyear, data-driven process focused on LACDMH's Full Service Partnership program, which supports a "whatever it takes" approach to caring for individuals with the most challenging mental health needs. As a result, LACDMH was able to deliver better outcomes for the more than 15,000 clients they serve each day. | |||
| Building a Shared Vision in California for Improving Outcomes for Individuals with Serious Mental Illness | County | CA | Active |
| Inspired by our groundbreaking work with the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health, Third Sector is leading a cohort of nine diverse California counties over 4.5 years in transforming their Full Service Partnership (FSP) programs to improve client outcomes. Through data-driven approaches and cross-county collaboration Third Sector is working with the counties both collectively and individually to implement an outcomes-focused approach that will increase their overall ability to use data to improve FSP services and outcomes | |||
All Behavioral Health Projects
| Project Name | Scope | Location | Status | |
| Incorporating Consumer Voice in Outcomes Design & System Improvements | County | CA | Active | |
Description:
Sutter-Yuba’s iCARE Innovation Project seeks to increase access to behavioral health care for underserved groups not currently engaged in traditional behavioral health services. Third Sector is supporting outcomes framework design and outcomes impact assessment for iCARE by soliciting and integrating input from consumers to both inform continuous improvement efforts and contribute to consumer-defined recovery metrics.
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| Designing Outcomes-Focused Mental Health Services in Los Angeles County | County | CA | Closed | |
Description:
Third Sector partnered with the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (LACDMH) to transform approximately $300 million in service provider contracts, creating the nation's largest system of outcomes-focused mental health provider contracts. This multiyear, data-driven process focused on LACDMH's Full Service Partnership program, which supports a "whatever it takes" approach to caring for individuals with the most challenging mental health needs. As a result, LACDMH was able to deliver better outcomes for the more than 15,000 clients they serve each day.
|
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| Building a Shared Vision in California for Improving Outcomes for Individuals with Serious Mental Illness | County | CA | Active | |
Description:
Inspired by our groundbreaking work with the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health, Third Sector is leading a cohort of nine diverse California counties over 4.5 years in transforming their Full Service Partnership (FSP) programs to improve client outcomes. Through data-driven approaches and cross-county collaboration Third Sector is working with the counties both collectively and individually to implement an outcomes-focused approach that will increase their overall ability to use data to improve FSP services and outcomes
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| Washington State 988 Implementation Support | State | WA | Closed | |
Description:
In preparation for 988 hotline implementation as required by the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act of 2020, Washington State partnered with Third Sector to perform a landscape assessment exploring the features of a successful, culturally, and linguistically competent crisis response and management system.
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| California Accountable Communities for Health Initiative (CACHI) | State | CA | Closed | |
Description:
With support from the Blue Shield of California Foundation, Third Sector assessed the potential for CA state and federal funding streams to support California’s Accountable Communities for Health Initiative (CACHI) in their effort to coordinate and provide prevention-oriented services to improve community health outcomes. Third Sector coordinated with the CACHI network and other thought leaders to disseminate information on the most promising opportunities. Third Sector also developed a roadmap to help communities understand how to access and leverage Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) funding to impact community mental health.
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| King County Outpatient Treatment on Demand | County | WA | Closed | |
Description:
Third Sector worked with King County’s Outpatient Treatment on Demand Initiative to direct approximately $115M annually in outpatient behavioral health funding toward outcomes by embedding performance incentives into existing contracts to increase access to timely care. The three-year program includes 23 different service provider agencies representing 93% of new outpatients served annually.
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| Alameda County Asthma PFS Initiative | County | CA | Closed | |
Description:
Third Sector worked with the Alameda County Health Care Services Agency to explore using PFS contracting to support the expansion of two of their asthma management and prevention services – Asthma Start and Healthy Homes. In Alameda County, approximately 45,000 children suffer from active pediatric asthma, representing nearly 13% of children in the County. The County has the capacity to only serve less than 9% of children diagnosed with asthma, and there is a significant need to scale the intervention and address unmet needs within the community. With support from the Nonprofit Finance Fund’s California PFS Initiative, Third Sector conducted a feasibility study to determine how the County can serve more low-income youth and generate asthma-related health savings.
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Get in touch
Will Rhett
Managing Director of Behavioral Health
San Diego, CA | wrhett@thirdsectorcap.org