Mental health care workers are in high demand across California, especially in the rural pockets of the state. In the Eastern Sierra, providers are working to expand their in-person services while fighting insurance companies to be included in their networks. But the challenges are immense, especially when it comes to psychiatric care. Here’s what some providers are doing to increase access.
mental health care
Too many families must fight health plans to get mental health care for their children. The process to get care is often time-consuming, confusing and burdensome.
That is why we are sponsoring Senate Bill 238. Under this bill, parents will no longer have to appeal health plan decisions through the arduous Department of Managed Health Care process.
In many Asian Americans communities, reluctance to seek mental health care is common. A 2007 study found that less than 9 percent of Asian-Americans sought any type of mental health services compared to nearly 18 percent of the general population nationwide.
According to experts familiar with the Asian American experience, stigma, pressure to live up to the myth of Asian American success, and culturally inappropriate services prevent people from getting the mental health care they need.
The need for mental health services has surged during the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing pressure on California’s already beset mental health care system.
Yet one source of funding that could potentially help counties meet the demand for mental health care remains underused more than a year after the California Health Report first drew attention to the issue. The funding benefits the mental health care program that serves a third of Californians.
The California State Auditor condemned three government agencies in a recent report for failing to fix problems with health care programs that serve some of the state’s most vulnerable residents.
The Department of Health Care Services has been slow to improve oversight of how counties manage and spend money for mental health care, the auditor said.