Our History

“The Wellness Recovery Resiliency Hub” is funded through the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA), and was carefully designed to support systems transformation.

The Hub was rated #1 of the twenty “Community Services and Supports” proposals submitted by Alameda County Behavioral Health Care Services (BHCS) to the State Department of Mental Health in May of 2006 (see Wellness Recovery Resource Center Proposal Summary). The Hub was designed by consumers, family members and providers participating on the MHSA Adult Planning Panel’s “Wellness Recovery Workgroup” during the Spring/Summer of 2005. The workgroup developed its proposal based on community meetings, data analysis and issue papers that documented the needs of consumers, family members and providers and identified openings for change in our system. The full proposal can be found here.

The Wellness Recovery Resource Center (the Hub’s original name) was designed to bring a wellness orientation into our behavioral health system. The original proposal offered a blueprint for systems change through the work of five divisions: (i) Technical Assistance and Training Program; (ii) Workforce Development Program; (iii) Housing Support Program; (iv) Peer Support “On-Site” Direct Services Center and the (v) Family Caregiver Support Center (this division was jointly developed by the Wellness Recovery Workgroup, the Children and Youth Planning Panel and the Alameda County Family Coalition).

Because the proposal was so far-reaching, the Hub Team chose to first implement the Technical Assistance and Training division. The Hub Team is partnering with the following BHCS divisions, organizations and projects to realize the vision of the original blueprint:

BHCS Workforce Development and Training Division (Toni Tullys, Workforce Development Manager, Paul Takayanagi, Training Officer);
Family Education Resource Center (Karina Foote, Director. Contractor: Mental Health Association of Alameda County)
BHCS Housing Office (Robert Ratner, Director),
Peer Support “On Site” Direct Services. The consumer-managed peer support component is being developed in two ways:

Creating Homes Project: includes a “Recovery Education Center” component that will provide seminars, workshops and a “mutual support community” for 145 members of the BHCS Adult Service Teams. The purpose of the Recovery Education Center is to support Creating Homes participants in their goals around housing, education, employment and mental health/wellness. The Recovery Education Center will be contracted-out to a consumer managed organization.
MHSA Capital Facilities and Technology funding stream: This funding stream includes the development of two Wellness Centers. The Hub is co-facilitating a workgroup that is developing recommendations regarding program and facility design requirements of consumer- managed wellness centers.

The Hub currently supports systems transformation by working closely with these programs and by:

providing training, technical assistance and consultation to help programs and their staff build on “what works;”
working with programs to offer more services and supports people-in-recovery need to live meaningful lives, guided by their own choices, in their community and
promoting recovery education resources that help caregivers support their loved ones, coordinate with providers and advocate for their own needs.

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