Salud mental

CalMatters and CatchLight are partnering on a three-year initiative to tell powerful stories about mental health in California. We’ll spotlight solutions, personal stories, investigate systems, and bring greater awareness to this historically stigmatized topic. This initiative is supported by:

Enlight Foundation
Fundación de atención médica de California
Flourish Impact Fund
Fundación de la Familia Lisa Stone Pritzker
Resonance Philanthropies
Sarlo Family Foundation
Fundación Sand Hill
Fundación Estuardo

Comentario

‘Give me another solution.’ Counties resist mental health centers, betraying patients and families

Monterey County recently halted development of a mental health center, leaving struggling patients and families in a lurch.

Por

George B. Sánchez-Tello

• marzo 31, 2026

Thumbnail image of a map of senior centers, zoomed to Southern California

Salud mental

Find a senior center near you in California

Use our map to find public places where older adults gather for meals, classes, exercise and community.

Por

Meisi Li

• marzo 27, 2026

The inside of a building under construction with exposed framing and tools laying around.

Personas sin hogar

10 projects from Newsom’s mental health bond were supposed to open in 2025. That didn’t happen

Projects that are supposed to offer mental health and substance use care to foster youth, new mothers, unhoused people and other vulnerable Californians have been delayed or cancelled.

Por

Marisa Kendall

• marzo 12, 2026

A group of officials stands inside a building under construction with exposed wooden framing. One person speaks at a podium with a sign that reads “TREATMENT NOT TENTS,” while others stand behind them listening. Temporary work lights hang overhead, and unfinished walls and beams fill the background.

Salud mental

Newsom threatens California counties for failing to use his new mental health court

Far fewer people with mental illness are getting help in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s CARE Court program than expected. This week, he blamed local governments for shortcomings.

Por

Marisa Kendall

• marzo 2, 2026

El gobernador Gavin Newsom habla en la prisión estatal de San Quentin y anuncia que la instalación se transformará para centrarse en la capacitación y la rehabilitación el 17 de marzo de 2023. Foto de Martin do Nascimento, CalMatters

Justicia

Where death chamber once stood, Newsom shows off prison remodel emphasizing rehabilitation

Gov. Gavin Newsom suspended the death penalty and ordered the dismantling of death row. He unveiled changes at San Quentin that include a new education center.

Por

Cayla Mihalovich

• febrero 20, 2026

Two people walk arm in arm through a room with chairs and tables where several others sit together, with framed documents on the wall and windows along one side.

Salud mental

How an aging California is turning to senior centers for romance, community and health

No two senior centers are alike. We visited three very different venues in L.A. to learn how they're changing to meet the needs of California's aging population.

Por

Joe García

• febrero 18, 2026

Salud mental

‘We wanted to find new friends’: See how older Californians are proving that senior isolation isn’t inevitable

Los Angeles senior centers are rebounding from COVID shutdowns and offering new programs for older adults. See how life changed for participants since the pandemic.

Por

Isadora Kosofsky

Jenny Jacklin-Stratton

• febrero 18, 2026

An older adult using a walker approaches a small green shuttle bus parked at a curb, long shadows stretching across the sidewalk in bright late-afternoon sunlight.

Salud mental

5 things we learned by spending time in Los Angeles senior centers

No two California senior centers are alike. They're shaped by their neighborhoods with programs that range from gym classes to meals, movie nights and more.

Por

Joe García

• febrero 18, 2026

A close-up of a person’s face seen through a reflective surface, with two vertical tattoo lines on the chin, dangling earrings, and their gaze directed upward against a dark, blurred background.

Salud mental

Mental health advocate for California tribes dies; victim in murder-suicide

Celinda Gonzales of the Yurok Tribe worked to prevent suicides among Native Americans after experiencing loss in her family. She "was a friend to many," the tribe said.

Por

Nigel Duara

• febrero 11, 2026

Silhouette of a person standing at a railing looking out into a bay with boats and the skyline of buildings in the background. The run is shining down, reflecting in the bay and creating shadows on the person and ships around the frame.

Salud mental

Listen: What happens when Californians with mental illness refuse to be treated?

One of Gov. Newsom's signature mental health programs was meant to bring treatment to people who refused it. So far, it's helping fewer Californians than many hoped.

Por

Julie Wernau

Dan Gorenstein

• febrero 5, 2026