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California is home to some of the world's most renowned mental health service providers, but, as one bipartisan study reported, "they are islands of success in a sea of rationed care." California, with the sixth-largest economy in the world, is equipped to serve only half of those among its population who need mental health treatment. The state's limited resources go to help only people who are in the most extreme need, and even some of them get turned away from care. Mental health funding in California lags so far behind the funding of other public services, such as transportation and public safety, that The San Diego Union-Tribune cited mental health as "the perennial loser" of budget negotiations -- yet we spend billions of dollars on jail space, court time and other costs resulting from untreated mental illness. The Little Hoover Commission, California's independent oversight agency that investigates state government operations, says stigma is at the heart of the state's mental health crisis. In 2000, the commissioners recommended a major overhaul of the mental health system, calling on business leaders, employers, the faith-based community, neighbors and taxpayers to join traditional mental health stakeholders in reform efforts.
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