Behavioral Health Full | Third Sector Capital PartnersThird Sector Capital Partners - Transforming public systems to advance improved and equitable outcomes

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.

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.

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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. Read More
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. Read More
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 Read More
Washington State 988 Implementation Support	State	WA	Closed
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. Read More
California Accountable Communities for Health Initiative (CACHI)	State		Active
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.

News & Insights

“Education is the one thing that can’t be taken from you…”“Education is the one thing that can’t be taken from you…”

Alysha Alani
October 23, 2023

Third Sector values deep and authentic relationships - amongst our staff as well as with our partners and clients. We had an opportunity to reflect on these relationships during our Spring 2023 Retreat where we focused as a team on “Why we do the work.” It was a privilege to welcome our long-time client, Dr. Cynthia Armendariz, Managing Director of the Colorado Opportunity Scholarship Initiative, to the retreat for a conversation with Alysha Alani, our Director, Economic Mobility, about her expertise in the college access and success field and her experience working with Third Sector over the last five years. We’ve captured some key insights from this “Fireside Chat” with Dr. Armendariz below.

Prioritizing Peers with Lived Experience to Address the Behavioral Health Workforce Crisis Prioritizing Peers with Lived Experience to Address the Behavioral Health Workforce Crisis

Nicole Kristy & Jessica Headley Ternes
August 16, 2023

As the demand for behavioral health treatment skyrockets alongside rising staff vacancy rates, behavioral health agencies are facing a true crisis in building enough capacity to meet the need. After an extensive literature review and working with more than a dozen behavioral health agencies, Third Sector believes one of the most strategic shifts agencies can make to confront this crisis is to invest heavily in roles for individuals with lived experience, known as peers.

Rethinking Step Down: The Next Step in Transforming Mental Health Services Rethinking Step Down: The Next Step in Transforming Mental Health Services

Zachary Kamin
June 14, 2022

At Third Sector, our mission is to transform our government agencies' ability to serve everyone in our communities, no matter their race, background, or circumstance. One of the most exciting and challenging things about this work is how trying to solve one set of problems reveals some other challenges we might not have understood in the same way. This is particularly true in the work we've been doing over the last five years in California to transform how nine counties in the state are serving and supporting tens of thousands of people with the most severe mental health challenges.

Five Takeaways on Using Human Centered Design to Improve Service Delivery Five Takeaways on Using Human Centered Design to Improve Service Delivery

by T. Peake
June 7, 2021

Through working with the Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) in GA and the Department for Community Based Services (DCBS) in KY in the Southeast Cohort on Young Parents and Families, Third Sector has identified five major takeaways for how to establish a human-centered approach to service delivery by centering a population’s long-term economic mobility outcomes.

Colorado and Ohio Departments of Higher Education Make Strides in Collaborative Efforts to Improve Student Success Outcomes Colorado and Ohio Departments of Higher Education Make Strides in Collaborative Efforts to Improve Student Success Outcomes

by S. Walton
April 6, 2021

Over the last two years, the Colorado Department of Higher Education (CDHE) and the Ohio Department of Higher Education (ODHE) have worked alongside Third Sector to develop projects that finance evidence-based services to improve student outcomes to and through college. Collectively, these efforts are known as the Partnerships to Achieve Student Success (PASS) initiative and have been philanthropically supported by the ECMC Foundation and the Kresge Foundation.

How to Design An Outcomes Focused Federal Government How to Design An Outcomes Focused Federal Government

by T. Pennell & J. Croan
March 24, 2021

When state and local government agencies have the necessary knowledge, resources and support to change the way they design, deliver and assess human services, people served by public systems measurably improve their lives.

New Partnerships to Stem COVID Learning Loss: School districts and tutoring providers explore outcomes-based contracting in K-12 math education New Partnerships to Stem COVID Learning Loss: School districts and tutoring providers explore outcomes-based contracting in K-12 math education

by S. Glover; E. Chang; H. Kay Howard
February 1, 2021

Third Sector and the Harvard University’s Center for Education Policy Research (CEPR) collaborated to lead an Outcomes-Based Contracting (OBC) Summit, a four-workshop virtual series exploring outcomes contracting in K-12 math instruction.

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