Tagged With "CCT"

Raising Awareness "How will we provide sanctuary for our kids? Protecting children from police surveillance, brutality and violence is critical to their health and well-being." In her NBC News op-ed, Dr. Rhea Boyd, CCT’s Director of Strategy and Equity, explains the life-long impact when children witness violence—in their schools, homes, neighborhoods. 1-click tweet An urgent and vital call to action from @CAChildrenTrust Director of Strategy and Equity @RheaBoydMD "How will we provide kids...

Legislation SB 803 - Introduced by state Sen. Jim Beall What it does: The Bill will set up a standardized process to train and certify peer support specialists. Why it’s important: Medicaid allows federal dollars to help pay for peer support specialists – but only in states with a process for standardizing training and certifying workers. Passage of SB803 will greatly expand the network of support for people with mental illness, and compensate people who are already providing informal...

September is suicide prevention month and according to a June CDC survey on mental health, 1 in 4 youth ages 18 to 24 said they had "seriously considered" suicide in the past 30 days—more than twice as high as any other age group. The tragic fact is that more youth die from suicide than any other cause. Even before the pandemic, and the headlines that highlight our nation’s history of racial injustice and violence, there was a mental health crisis driven by social determinants tied to...

In recent days Governor Newsom signed into law three bills that take important steps to improve access to mental health care in California: AB 2112 establishes a state office of suicide prevention SB 803 will certify and train Peer Support Specialists that can bill Medi-Cal SB 855 increases mental health parity requirements commercial health plans Together these bills acknowledge our racialized crisis of despair (AB 2112), launch the formal integration and honoring of lived experience in our...

Op-Ed by Jevon Wilkes: Young people need safe, stable housing. They need jobs paying living wages. They need access to education and training and support to complete them and go on to careers in growing fields. They need a sense of trust, autonomy, independence, and identity to heal and thrive.

Dear Friends and Allies On behalf of the millions of California’s children entitled to mental health support and services, we are pleased to share this groundbreaking report: “ Meeting the Moment: Improving EPSDT Implementation in California to Address Growing Mental Health Needs .” READ THE REPORT Envisioned by the California Children’s Trust (CCT), and written by the National Center for Youth Law (NCYL) and the National Health Law Program (NHeLP), the report offers advocates and...

Dear Friends and Allies, As we emerge from a year of crisis and despair, we are lifted by the hope of a new administration and the growing state and national consensus that we must respond at scale to the social and emotional challenges facing children. Challenges clearly driven by structural racism, the stabilization of poverty, and a culture that equates wealth with value, and fame with merit. CCT and our allies are doubling down on our commitment to reimagine children’s mental health as a...

NO GOING BACK: Providing Telemental Health Services to California Children and Youth After the Pandemic, is the first in a series of briefs outlining how technology can make mental health more accessible with concrete recommendations based on providers’ perspectives, and lessons learned during the pandemic. Read the Report When the shelter-in-place mandate started, California’s mental and behavioral health providers quickly pivoted to telehealth delivery for children and adolescents. Recent...

Dear Friends and Allies, This is a moment for transformation led by youth advocates—those with lived experience—to reimagine a mental health system centered on equity and justice. While concerns remain with the state's proposals on both Telehealth and CalAIM, there are some hopeful signs of reform on the horizon including: $700 million proposed in the Governor’s budget to support student mental health in schools. The updated CalAIM proposal which advocates for the removal of a diagnosis for...

Dear Friends and Allies, This is a moment for transformation led by youth advocates—those with lived experience—to reimagine a mental health system centered on equity and justice. While concerns remain with the state's proposals on both Telehealth and CalAIM, there are some hopeful signs of reform on the horizon including: $700 million proposed in the Governor’s budget to support student mental health in schools. The updated CalAIM proposal which advocates for the removal of a diagnosis for...

Dear Friends and Allies California schools are slowly beginning to reopen and billions of dollars in federal and state funds have been committed to support the long road of not only getting our kids in school but helping close the learning gap and address the social-emotional stress of the past 12 months. The specifics, as reported by EdSource , include: $15.3 billion in assistance to California’s K-12 schools from the American Rescue Plan. An additional $6.6 billion appropriated by Gov.

There is unprecedented momentum to tackle the mental health crisis affecting our children. The universally felt isolation and suffering caused by the pandemic are helping to strip away the stigma of mental illness. In its place is an energized movement, led by advocates, that is transforming the way California provides mental health services for its most vulnerable children—the majority of whom are black and brown. This movement has captured the attention of state and local policymakers,...

We face both a generational opportunity and a challenging conversation, as the California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM) initiative moves forward with the important step of DHCS seeking federal approval of the 1115 demonstration amendment and 1915(b) waiver . The welcome improvements realized by the CalAIM process appear to have been eroded in DHCS’ current 1915(b) waiver proposal by a set of contradictory requirements, new screening obligations, lack of clarity, and a...

Last week Governor Newsom released the May Revision of his proposed state budget which includes an investment of $20 billion to make public schools gateways of equity and opportunity , with 20% of those funds —$4 billion dollars—dedicated to transforming California’s behavioral health system into a world-class, innovative, and prevention-focused system for Californians age 0-25. For young people, their families, allies and advocates, the proposal represents an unprecedented opportunity to...