The Mental Health Client Action Network has evolved from groups in Santa Cruz representing the diverse needs of consumers of health care and survivors of mental health abuse, as well as needs of ex-patients. These groups include the Psychiatric Inmates Rights Collective, Mad Womyn United, and Mood Matters.

In April 1991, several ex-patients asked the Board of Supervisors for funds to attend the Berkeley Alternatives Conference sponsored by Community Mental Health Services of Washington, D.C. Over 20 mental health clients attended that conference, and came back with plans to select a Coordinator, start a newsletter, and visit patients at Dominican Hospital and Harbor Hills. The group of current and ex-psychiatric patients met at Louden Nelson, the Doran Center for the Blind, in the Solarium at Bldg F at Emeline complex, and in a Blue House in the parking lot of what is now Bldg K at Emeline.

In an all-day meeting in 1992 the group (with help from the California Network of Mental Health Clients) drafted the first Mission Statement. William James and the Santa Cruz Community Counseling Center, Inc. served as funding agents between 1992 and 1997 while the budget from County Mental Health Services rose from $19,000 to $86,000.
In May 1994 with the assistance of diarist Ray Zager, mental health clients mounted an art show and staged a poetry reading at the Art League. Starting 1996, weekly activities were offered in painting, folk guitar, knitting taught by Debbie Smith, and creative writing. MH-CAN has published three anthologies of art and poetry called Voices & Visions.
In July 1994 MH-CAN moved to the basement of Grace United Methodist Church, a familiar location to county clients because Stepping Out had held Saturday lunch and games in the Memorial Center at the church for several years. The 1,200 sq. ft. basement had a kitchen, center room, art room, library, and office.

The MH-CAN Advisory Council applied for state and federal tax exemptions as a nonprofit in 1995 and held the first Board meeting on June 19, 1995. Federal nonprofit status was granted August 18, 1995. The core staff (DuBose, Ashworth, McSweeney, Schell, and McMahon) completed a year of employment in June 1996. Sharon Kuehn, Carol Patterson, Andrew Purchin, LCSW, and Paul Gendreau, R.N., helped MH-CAN develop a peer-counseling program. MH-CAN sent three clients to Vermont in 1999 to learn the Wellness Recovery Action Plan and has offered a summer training for peer counselors since 1999 whose graduates are hired by other county contract agencies to facilitate self-help groups and provide peer support.

In 1998-9 MH-CAN was selected as one of eight consumer operated service programs in the nation to be part of a national SAMHSA research project. MH-CAN was awarded a grant for four years to enhance their services. MH-CAN moved to the first floor of the United Methodist Memorial Hall with 4,000 sq. ft. at 1051 Cayuga St. in January 2000. The Greek Revival style church which provided overhangs and safe doorways for many mental health clients who were homeless burned in October of that year. Together with the United Methodists and SCCCC, Inc., MH-CAN has a vision to see an affordable, permanent complex of housing with peer supports on the corner of Soquel and Cayuga.

The SAMHSA grant ended in 2002 as CA funding for human services declined. MH-CAN has maintained the same number of support groups and computer lab stations by trimming open hours, cutting back on transportation, cutting cable service, and Saturday lunches.