The Mental Health Handbook A Guide to Understanding California's Mental Health System

California is doing a great disservice to those suffering from serious and persistent forms of mental illness. The infrastructure set in place is in dire need of reform. This book addresses the factors that contribute to the failing system, and provides policy solutions backed by historical approaches to mental illness.

Topics include:
Historical approaches to mental illness
Previous policy solutions
Impacts on the family
Practical solutions for practitioners and family members
Policy recommendations to ensure proper stewardship of tax payer dollars

Advocacy for mental health services is the driving passion that guides Barbara Wilson's everyday life. She has a long history including a Master's in Social Work from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln in 1970. In 1972, Ms. Wilson moved to California and worked for the State Department of Mental Hygiene where she continued her frontline advocacy. Her primary focus was to create and monitor community infrastructure for adults, children, and older adults who had been hospitalized in State hospitals and have chronic and persistent forms of serious mental illness.

Mental Health Advocacy remains a passion for Ms. Wilson and will continue to be. She looks forward to increasing access to care and humane treatment of the mentally ill! Currently Ms. Wilson serves as the Director of Mental Health Hook Up, a nonprofit, located in the Santa Clarita Valley, and serving the Greater Los Angeles County Metropolitan area and Ventura County.