Mental Health

The youth mental health crisis is well documented, yet most California schools lack the resources, training and capacity to identify concerns and respond. Greater investment, including funds to hire more school counselors, could make a difference.

Many Californians experiencing homelessness do not have access to the kind of care they need to overcome substance use disorder, which is almost always a significant barrier to finding stable employment or securing permanent housing.

California has created many programs to battle the scourge of homelessness, but a new audit says the agency created to coordinate those programs has failed to do its job.

The narrow passage of Proposition 1 showed that Californians are skeptical of expensive initiatives to fix homelessness. To make these investments work, the state needs to do more than just pay for new beds – it needs to change how people get into them.

Gov. Gavin Newsom pledged to address a rise in jail deaths early in his administration. Since then, fentanyl overdoses and suicides have death rates at historic highs.

Gov. Gavin Newsom made mental health a priority since he took office five years ago. The ballot initiative voters approved this week will provide billions of dollars to fund housing and treatment facilities for mentally ill Californians.

It was clear 37-year-old Fredreaka Jack needed intense mental and physical health care. Yet California’s publicly funded parole system failed to make sure she got it.

Recent polls show many Californians were undecided heading into Election Day on Gov. Newsom’s Proposition 1, which would fund new mental health treatment facilities.

Gov. Gavin Newsom is visiting four cities to drum up support for Prop. 1, a $6.4 billion bond for mental health facilities. Opponents say the state can't afford the plan.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Proposition 1 is the latest milestone in California’s long struggle to address mental illness. It would allocate new funding for housing and treatment facilities, aiming to address a crisis that plays out on city streets.