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January 10, 2024 - Budget Proposal Protects Key Mental Health Priorities
Sacramento, CA – The County Behavioral Health Directors Association (CBHDA) released the following statement from Executive Director Michelle Doty Cabrera today:
“At a time when our behavioral health system is experiencing unprecedented demand on top of a deep workforce crisis, county behavioral health directors are pleased to see that Gov. Gavin Newsom’s 2024-25 budget proposal maintains baseline funding for essential behavioral health services. Economic uncertainty will only increase demand for county behavioral health services, from crisis response to substance use interventions.
October 12, 2023 - Statement of County Behavioral Health Directors Association as Governor Newsom Signs SB 326
“Proposition 1, which will be placed before the voters in March 2024, promises to transform the public safety net for individuals with serious mental illness and substance use disorders for decades to come.
Proposition 1 reflects advocacy by our county behavioral health leaders to allow for our state’s millionaire’s tax to also fund services for individuals with substance use disorders, and to increase transparency and accountability for county behavioral health funding and services to improve the public’s understanding and trust in the amazing contributions of our safety net to serving vulnerable populations on a daily basis. This Proposition will also fundamentally alter the county safety net’s relationship with the state, Medi-Cal managed care plans, and commercial insurance plans, with the goal of improved coordination and accountability across multiple systems.
October 11, 2023 - Statement of County Behavioral Health Directors Association on Signing of SB 43
Counties expressed concerns with SB 43 (Eggman) given that it will expand involuntary commitments to individuals with only a substance use disorder (SUD) and there is currently no model of treatment for involuntary SUD treatment. In addition, if anyone is determined to need a locked facility for SUD treatment, those do not currently exist in California. We continue to emphasize the need for policymakers to invest in more effective strategies such as easy access to comprehensive substance use disorder treatment and in expanding our capacity as a system to effectively treat individuals with severe needs at all levels.
California’s safety net for SUD treatment is significantly underfunded as a matter of decades’ worth of policies. It was only in the last six years that counties have been able to provide a more robust set of treatment options to individuals with Medi-Cal coverage, and that was under a special waiver, which was phased in and largely funded within existing county resources. These robust benefits are still not available in all counties, or to individuals with all insurance types. Even with these new benefits, longer-term residential and inpatient drug treatment mandated by courts will likely not be covered through insurance without policy changes. The Newsom administration’s historic investments in behavioral health have been essential in building a foundational bricks and mortar and workforce infrastructure for the changes we need to see in our state’s public safety net.
May 12, 2023 - CBHDA and CBHA Release Joint Statement Regarding Governor Newsom's May Revision Budget Proposal for 2023-24
Sacramento, CA – The leaders of California’s county and community behavioral health system appreciate Governor Gavin Newsom’s commitment to maintaining and prioritizing the state’s behavioral health programs and progress in his May Revision budget proposal for 2023-24.
“In a time of both fiscal uncertainty and great need, we appreciate the critical attention to strengthening our behavioral health workforce and look forward to continuing to work together to ensure California has the robust and diverse workforce needed to heal our communities," said Dr. Le Ondra Clark Harvey, CEO of the California Council of Community Behavioral Health Agencies (CBHA).
February 13, 2023 – Landmark UCSF Study: California’s Ambitious Agenda to Transform Behavioral Health Care Must Be Matched by Bold Workforce Investments
Sacramento, CA – The County Behavioral Health Directors Association of California (CBHDA) today released a landmark study on the public safety net workforce serving Medi-Cal clients’ mental health and substance use disorder needs across California.
The report, Building the Future Behavioral Health Workforce: Needs Assessment, authored by two researchers from Healthforce Center at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), sheds light on the workforce crisis impacting California’s delivery of vital behavioral health services to safety net clients and the implementation of sweeping new behavioral health initiatives the state has launched in recent years. The clear message of the report is that California must increase investments and adopt new strategies to equip counties and their community-based organization partners to recruit and retain significantly more behavioral health professionals who reflect California’s diversity and to fuel the various new mental health and substance use disorder initiatives rolled out by the state in recent years.
September 14, 2022 - State/County Partnership on Behavioral Health Housing, Workforce, Funding Critical to CARE Court Success
Sacramento, CA – The County Behavioral Health Directors’ Association of California (CBHDA) released the following statement from Executive Director Michelle Doty Cabrera on Governor Newsom’s signing of SB 1338, which phases in the new CARE Court program beginning in seven counties in 2023 and then statewide in 2024.
“With Governor Newsom’s signature on SB 1338, the state and county behavioral health departments will jointly embark on creating a new pathway for individuals to access the county mental health services safety net. Californians are counting on our success with this initiative as a part of the state’s broader efforts to address homelessness. Success will depend in large part on our state partners’ commitment to improve the availability of housing for county behavioral health clients, addressing the behavioral health workforce crisis, and investment of new funds to administer CARE Court without siphoning resources from the hundreds of thousands of county clients already counting on the vital behavioral health and substance use disorder services we provide.
June 24, 2022 - Reproductive Freedom and Behavioral Health are Inseparable
Sacramento, CA – The County Behavioral Health Directors’ Association of California (CBHDA) released the following statement from Executive Director Michelle Doty Cabrera on the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization:
“County behavioral health directors are deeply dismayed by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, a decision with profoundly harmful consequences for behavioral health and one that compounds trauma, discrimination, and inequality. As leaders of California’s public behavioral health safety net, we are particularly concerned that the impact of this decision will fall hardest on people with low incomes, the majority of whom are women of color, reinforcing existing, unacceptable health disparities.
March 3, 2022 - California Must Truly Prioritize Individuals with Serious Mental Illness by Fully Funding Behavioral Health Treatment and Prioritized Housing
Sacramento, CA – The County Behavioral Health Directors’ Association of California (CBHDA) released the following statement from Executive Director Michelle Doty Cabrera on Governor Newsom’s “Care Courts” proposal:
“County behavioral health departments appreciate Governor Newsom’s compassion for Californians living with behavioral health challenges. In particular, we applaud the Administration’s commitment to building our additional community-based treatment infrastructure through substantial one-time funding in last year’s budget, and through the Governor’s January Budget Proposal to invest $1.5 billion for housing individuals with serious behavioral health needs.
January 10, 2022 - State-County Partnership Needed to Strengthen Behavioral Health in Face of Triple Pandemic
Sacramento, CA – The County Behavioral Health Directors’ Association of California (CBHDA) released the following statement from Executive Director Michelle Doty Cabrera on Governor Newsom’s 2022-23 fiscal year budget proposal:
“County behavioral health departments are up against many of the same challenges facing the rest of the nation: individuals and communities reeling from the behavioral health crises triggered by the devastation of the global pandemic; a relentless surge in COVID-19 cases is making our clients and our workforce sick; and an exodus of workers attracted by competition and soaring private sector salaries. The resilience we will need to tackle the pandemic, homelessness, and the opioid public health crises will require a strong state-county behavioral health partnership.”
November 8, 2021 – County Behavioral Health Directors Association Announces Gail Gronert as New Director of Strategic Initiatives
Sacramento, CA – County Behavioral Health Directors Association of California (CBHDA) today announced that Gail Gronert has joined the team as Director of Strategic Initiatives. Gronert will help lead budget and advocacy efforts in this role and provide strategic guidance to advance CBHDA’s mission. She will be part of the association’s senior leadership team.
July 8, 2021 – Behavioral Health Leaders Applaud Governor Newsom's Historic Investment in Behavioral Health with 2021-22 Budget
Sacramento, CA – The California Council of Community Behavioral Health Agencies (CBHA) and the County Behavioral Health Directors Association (CBHDA) applaud the Legislature and the Governor for prioritizing the state's recovery from a tsunami of behavioral health needs coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic with a spending plan that dedicates more than $5 billion of new investments in behavioral health.
May 14, 2021 – Governor’s May Revision Budget Represents the Single Largest State General Fund Investment in Behavioral Health in California History
Sacramento, CA – Between workforce and brick-and-mortar proposals announced today, the Newsom Administration is almost doubling its investment in building up the capacity of the public behavioral health safety net.
May 12, 2021 – CBHDA Applauds Governor’s Unprecedented Proposed Investments in County Behavioral Health Infrastructure for Children, Youth, and Families
SACRAMENTO – The County Behavioral Health Directors Association applauds Governor Gavin Newsom and the Administration for acknowledging the youth behavioral health crisis in today’s announcement of a $4 billion commitment to behavioral health to better support the social-emotional well-being of students.
April 20, 2021 – County Behavioral Health Directors Statement on the Guilty Verdicts in George Floyd Murder Trial
Sacramento, CA – The County Behavioral Health Directors’ Association of California (CBHDA) released the following statement from Dr. Veronica A. Kelley, CBHDA President and Director for the San Bernardino County Department of Behavioral Health, on the conviction of Derek Chauvin in the murder of George Floyd.
March 16, 2021 – County Leaders Declare Racism a Public Health Crisis
Sacramento, CA – Organizations representing California’s county behavioral health, human services, public health, and public hospital systems today released a powerful, unified statement acknowledging the “historic and ongoing harms of systemic racism” and committing to address those harms through client and community-centered action and accountability.
February 17, 2021 – Upcoming “Body Brokers” Film Needs “Fiction Disclaimer, Say Substance Use Experts and Advocates for People in Recovery
Los Angeles, CA – Directors of California’s county behavioral health departments and advocates for people on their substance use recovery journey are deeply concerned that the upcoming “Body Brokers” film could reinforce stigma around substance use treatment and deter people living with addiction from seeking help.
February 12, 2021 – County Behavioral Health Directors Applaud Priority Vaccine Access for Californians with Behavioral Health Disabilities
Sacramento, CA – After the state of California released new priority guidelines for COVID-19 vaccinations, the County Behavioral Health Directors Association of California (CBHDA) issued the following statement today from Dr. Veronica Kelley, CBHDA President and San Bernardino County Behavioral Health Director and member of the Community Vaccine Advisory Committee.