5820. (Amended by Stats. 2017, Ch. 511, Sec. 17.)

(a) It is the intent of this part to establish a program with dedicated funding to remedy the shortage of qualified individuals to provide services to address severe mental illnesses.

(b) Each county mental health program shall submit to the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development a needs assessment identifying its shortages in each professional and other occupational category in order to increase the supply of professional staff and other staff that county mental health programs anticipate they will require in order to provide the increase in services projected to serve additional individuals and families pursuant to Part 3 (commencing with Section 5800), Part 3.2 (commencing with Section 5830), Part 3.6 (commencing with Section 5840), and Part 4 (commencing with Section 5850) of this division. For purposes of this part, employment in California’s public mental health system includes employment in private organizations providing publicly funded mental health services.