Orange County
PADs Implementation
County Population Total:
Community Population Total:
Priority Populations:
Orange County will pilot the PADs project in several areas within the Health Care Agency: Program for Assertive Community Treatment (PACT), Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT), and Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) program. Additional programs will be added in later phases of the projects.
Threshold Languages:
- Arabic
- Mandarin
- English
- Farsi
- Korean
- Spanish
- Vietnamese
Partner Agencies:
Orange County hopes to engage various community stakeholders throughout the duration of the PADs Innovation Project. Partner agencies like first responders, law enforcement and local hospitals will be invited to participate in trainings to increase awareness about the use of PADs and support implementation efforts. Our Crisis Assessment Team (CAT) program was trained in March 2026. In addition, Orange County currently has approximately 200 Peer Specialists (i.e., Mental Health Workers) across its Behavioral Health Services programs. In Phase I, the County leveraged its existing Peer workforce to help develop a PADs template that can better support individuals experiencing a mental health crisis. In Phase II, Peers at PACT, AOT, and CARE continue to introduce and facilitate PADs with their clients.
Why are PADs particularly important for your county?
The PADs project aligns with the goals and objectives of Orange County’s Integrated Services 2025 Vision and FY2020-23 MHSA Strategic Priorities. The process of developing a PAD can help people clarify their preferences for treatment and plan for a future mental health crisis, serving as a powerful tool to increase a person’s quality of care within the mental health and justice-involved settings. Furthermore, the ability to access and share PADs across providers and systems will allow providers and first responders to provide personalized, responsive, and coordinated care.
What is unique about how PADs will be used in your county?
Psychiatric Advanced Directives have not been used actively or consistently in our Orange County community or system of care. Our goal is to introduce PADs to our county and non-county contracted programs in order to integrate this useful tool within our system of care and expand interagency collaboration with first responders, law enforcement, and hospital staff. Our objective is to use PADs with our PACT, AOT and CARE population in an effort to provide opportunity for individual voices to be heard and create community collaboration as it relates to crisis response situations.
Having a PAD is an essential component in our own recovery. Having your choices be heard gives a sense of empowerment.
– Maria G., Certified Peer Support Specialist
Being labeled mentally ill always served to strip me of my autonomy and relegate my identity to the passive role of consumer. Filling out a PAD restores dignity because it focuses on the individual first.
– Danny G., Peer Support Specialist
Having a PAD is an essential component in our own recovery. Having your choices be heard gives a sense of empowerment.
– Maria G., Certified Peer Support Specialist
Having a PAD is an essential component in our own recovery. Having your choices be heard gives a sense of empowerment.
– Maria G., Certified Peer Support Specialist
Being labeled mentally ill always served to strip me of my autonomy and relegate my identity to the passive role of consumer. Filling out a PAD restores dignity because it focuses on the individual first.
– Danny G., Peer Support Specialist
At times, the digital space feels cold and distant, yet this project resonates differently with me. It’s rooted in compassion, and it has the power to transform what was once a scary place into a comforting and familiar space.
– Jackie S., Certified Peer Support Specialist
Information is a very important tool in law enforcement. The more provided to us prior to responding to a critical incident, the better opportunities we have to find more peaceful resolutions and long-term solutions.
– Isaiah Hicks, Deputy Sherriff, OCSD
Having a PAD is an essential component in our own recovery. Having your choices be heard gives a sense of empowerment.
– Maria G., Certified Peer Support Specialist
Being labeled mentally ill always served to strip me of my autonomy and relegate my identity to the passive role of consumer. Filling out a PAD restores dignity because it focuses on the individual first.
– Danny G., Peer Support Specialist
At times, the digital space feels cold and distant, yet this project resonates differently with me. It’s rooted in compassion, and it has the power to transform what was once a scary place into a comforting and familiar space.
– Jackie S., Certified Peer Support Specialist
Information is a very important tool in law enforcement. The more provided to us prior to responding to a critical incident, the better opportunities we have to find more peaceful resolutions and long-term solutions.
– Isaiah Hicks, Deputy Sherriff, OCSD
Having a PAD is an essential component in our own recovery. Having your choices be heard gives a sense of empowerment.
– Maria G., Certified Peer Support Specialist
Being labeled mentally ill always served to strip me of my autonomy and relegate my identity to the passive role of consumer. Filling out a PAD restores dignity because it focuses on the individual first.
– Danny G., Peer Support Specialist