Consumer Evaluation Council

About the Program

Category: Health (Best in Category)

Year: 2021

The San Bernardino County Department of Behavioral Health’s (DBH) Consumer Evaluation Council (CEC) addresses the need to include feedback from individuals with lived experience in mental health and substance use disorders, also known as consumers, in research and evaluation efforts. The program brings together consumers of different ethnicities and diagnoses, from all regions of the County, to regularly gather input and provide feedback on the creation and evaluation of DBH programs and services. The CEC empowers consumers to inform the departments improvement projects including surveys, research and evaluation designs, quantitative and qualitative methodologies, innovation program development, and quality management improvement projects. Encouraging consumers to take charge of evaluation design, participate in meetings, and provide their honest feedback is also a supportive factor in the recovery process. The creation and support of a CEC is a powerful and successful way for counties to elevate and increase inclusivity of the consumer experience in all aspects of service delivery, research, evaluation, and quality improvement projects. The CEC is also proposed as a formal business process, wherein all research and evaluation designs, metrics, and analysis are brought to the CEC for their feedback and integration into these areas.