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
California Health Care Foundation
Flourish Impact Fund
Lisa Stone Pritzker Family Foundation
Resonance Philanthropies
Sarlo Family Foundation
Sand Hill Foundation
Stuart Foundation

Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks to the media after announcing the state's plan to address homelessness across the state at Cal Expo in Sacramento, on March 16, 2023. Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters

Mental Health

‘You have a crisis out there’: Gavin Newsom scolds counties over delays in mental health law

All but two California counties are delaying their implementation of a new law that makes it easier for a court to place someone in involuntary confinement if they can't care for their own medical needs or personal safety.

By Kristen Hwang and Ana B. Ibarra • December 16, 2023

Army veteran Latoya White at her home on Treasure Island in San Francisco, on Oct. 24, 2023. A third of the nation’s homeless veterans live in California, where the state has spent several billion dollars creating more housing specifically for former military service members since 9/11. Photo by Loren Elliott for CalMatters

Homelessness

One-third of homeless veterans live in California. Newsom is backing a new plan to help them

California’s population of homeless veterans has plateaued despite billions of dollars in state spending to create housing for former military service members. Now, Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to shift the state’s resources to focus on veterans with serious mental health conditions.

By Shreya Agrawal • November 6, 2023

Homeless tents at an encampment near the PATH apartment complex in Los Angeles on Nov. 17, 2021.

Commentary

California needs to change its homelessness policies, not spend more money

Despite spending by Democrat lawmakers, California's homeless population kept growing over the last five years. The current approach of throwing money at the problem is clearly not working.

By Brian Jones • November 6, 2023

Alard Gavorkian, an unhoused woman in downtown Los Angeles, tends to her belongings on Jan. 29, 2022. Photo by Shannon Stapleton, Reuters

Commentary

Shifting how California funds its mental health system is critical to getting more people off the streets

To reach tens of thousands of people living in tent encampments, California must prioritize and focus the billions generated through the Mental Health Services Act. Proposition 1, going before voters in March, is a major step towards the original law's promise.

By Darrell Steinberg • November 6, 2023

Fernando Maya in his room at the PATH apartment complex in Los Angeles on Nov. 17, 2021. Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters

Commentary

Housing alone won’t solve homelessness. California must expand its mental health system

California can't solve homelessness without vastly improving the public mental health system. Without treatment and interventions, those with a serious mental illness deteriorate and lose housing.

By Patricia Fontana • November 6, 2023

Mental Health

California mental health agency on the hot seat as lawmakers review ‘groundbreaking’ law

A 2020 California law expanded the number of mental health conditions that insurers must cover. Now, lawmakers are reviewing whether the law is working as intended.

By Jocelyn Wiener • October 17, 2023

U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, D-California, addresses members of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, IATSE at their Union Hall in Burbank on Feb. 11, 2023. Two weeks prior, Schiff launched his campaign for the U.S. Senate, raising $1.6 million in chiefly small-dollar donations. Photo Damian Dovarganes, AP Photo

WhatMatters

Who’s winning the U.S. Senate money race?

From CalMatters politics reporter Yue Stella Yu: There is no shortage of political wealth in California — and certainly not in the 2024 U.S. Senate race. With less than five months until the March 5 primary, the five top Democrats and Republicans have collectively raised roughly $50 million — more than the $40 million the […]

By Lynn La • October 17, 2023

Kaiser Permanente employees on strike on Oct. 4, 2023. The workers held a demonstration in front of the Kaiser Permanente South Sacramento location demanding higher wages and more staffing. Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters

WhatMatters

Kaiser pays $200 million on mental health staffing; Newsom signs reform package

In what it described as a “historic agreement,” the California Department of Managed Health Care announced Thursday that it has settled with Kaiser Permanente over the company’s failure to deliver adequate behavioral health care services to its patients. The settlement, CalMatters’ health reporter Ana B. Ibarra writes, includes a $50 million fine (the department’s biggest […]

By Lynn La • October 13, 2023

Health

Kaiser agrees to $200 million settlement over California mental health delays

Kaiser patients waited 19 days for follow-up mental health appointments in 2019, nine days longer than state law permits. The settlement includes the largest-ever penalty issued by California’s behavioral health regulator.

By Ana B. Ibarra • October 12, 2023

Physician assistant Brett Feldman speaks with a man in his encampment along Skid Row on Nov. 18, 2022. Photo by Larry Valenzuela for CalMatters

WhatMatters

Newsom signs California mental health overhaul

World Mental Health Day started bright and early Tuesday with Gov. Gavin Newsom announcing he has signed a key part of his overhaul of California’s mental health policy that will loosen rules about who is eligible for involuntary treatment. As CalMatters’ health reporter Jocelyn Wiener explains, under the new law, the legal definition of who […]

By Lynn La • October 11, 2023