Mental Health

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
加州医疗保健基金会
Flourish Impact Fund
Lisa Stone Pritzker Family Foundation
Resonance Philanthropies
Sarlo Family Foundation
Sand Hill Foundation
Stuart Foundation

Photo illustration of a gavel overlaid with blurry shadows of people

正义

People are getting arrested under California’s new tough-on-crime law. Some counties aren’t ready

A key part of California's Proposition 36 promised to direct people convicted of certain drug crimes to treatment. Some counties are straining to make that happen without new funding.

经过

凯拉·米哈洛维奇

• 2 月 11, 2025

A vendor bags psilocybin mushrooms at a cannabis marketplace in Los Angeles on May 24, 2019. Photo by Richard Vogel, AP Photo

健康

California almost legalized psychedelics. Now, supporters are looking for a good test case

Two states legalized psychedelic therapies since 2020 and President Biden signed a law supporting studies of how they might help veterans. Proposals like those keep dying in California.

经过

安娜·B·伊瓦拉

• 1 月 2, 2025

A group of people in front of a building holding picket signs that reads "kaiserdondeny.org" and "stand with kaiser therapist, end the inequity."

健康

‘I have no safety net’: Mental health patients anxious as Kaiser SoCal strike hits week 10

Top California Democrats are pressuring Kaiser to make a deal with the union representing Southern California therapists, while patients say they're just holding on.

经过

乔·加西亚

• 12 月 20, 2024

A stack of small white plastic containers with white pills inside plastic bubbles with one with a yellow sticker saying "Start Here". The stack is held with a rubber band and sits on a desk on a stack of papers.

健康

A California recovery program keeps watch on addicted health workers — but not doctors

California doctors are asking the state to create a 'safe harbor' program for addiction recovery. They say the current system discourages doctors from participating because they regard it as punitive.

经过

黄克莉丝汀

• 12 月 19, 2024

Flanked by legislators, Paris Hilton speaks in support of Senate Bill 1043 during a press conference at the Capitol Annex Swing Space on April 15, 2024. SB 1043 would require more transparency for children's treatment facilities that are licensed in California. Hilton spoke of her traumatic experience during her teenage years at similar facilities. Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters

国会大厦

Troubled California teens gain protections under a new law championed by Paris Hilton

Hilton, the latest celebrity to lobby the Legislature, persuaded it to pass a law that brings more transparency on the use of restraints and seclusion rooms.

经过

林恩·拉

• 12 月 18, 2024

Dr. Rishi Patel from the Akido Street Medicine team checks on an unhoused man living in a vineyard in Arvin on May 28, 2024. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local

无家可归

Federal health care dollars are helping to house homeless Californians. Trump could stop that

Gov. Newsom launched an ambitious program that uses Medi-Cal to help Californians access housing, healthy food and more. Now, its fate is in the hands of President-Elect Trump.

经过

玛丽莎肯德尔

• 12 月 12, 2024

A framed portrait of a smiling person sits on a shelf. Next to the frame is a vibrant bouquet of yellow, orange, and purple flowers in a red vase, along with a small angel figurine and candles. The setting appears to be a memorial display.

Mental Health

He wanted to live. After his insurance rejected coverage, he died of a fentanyl overdose

California requires insurers to cover medically necessary mental health treatment. But to patients, the separation between what that law requires and what health plans provide often feels like a gaping chasm.

经过

乔斯琳·维纳

• 10 月 28, 2024

这是一张拼贴画，由多张以心形排列的照片组成，并放在一个相框中展示。照片中不同年龄的人微笑、摆姿势、互动，中间有一张显眼的肖像。背景是柔和的模糊效果，重点突出拼贴画。

Mental Health

Denied coverage for mental health treatment? Here’s what you can do

Government agencies can overrule an insurance company's denial of coverage for a medically necessary mental health treatment, but figuring out how to appeal can be complicated.

经过

乔斯琳·维纳

• 10 月 28, 2024

A line of protestors holding signs and marching in front of a hospital.

Mental Health

Kaiser Permanente mental health workers begin open-ended strike in Southern California

The strike is the second one in a little more than two years by California mental health workers at Kaiser Permanente. The last one lasted 10 weeks. Photo by Adriana Heldiz, CalMatters

经过

乔·加西亚

• 10 月 21, 2024

Illustration of the back of a person sitting in front of a judge; to the left of the judge, there is a vignette of a person standing in a cell; to the right, there is a line of people wrapping around a medical building

正义

California ballot measure promises ‘mass treatment’ for drug crimes. Can counties provide it?

Prop. 36 pledges to send more people convicted of drug possession to treatment instead of prison. Behavioral health directors say that's easier said than done with workforce shortages across the state.

经过

凯拉·米哈洛维奇

• 10 月 16, 2024