I recently introduced Senate Bill 387 to help teachers and school-based staff receive training on how to recognize the signs of a mental health crisis.
Although teachers and school-based staff are not trained mental health professionals, they are in a unique position to support youth who need help. By equipping teachers with the training needed to recognize the signs of someone experiencing a mental health or substance use challenge, we’ll help ensure students don’t slip through the cracks.
As a psychiatrist, I regularly see patients with severe, life-threatening addictions to digital content, including social media.
If we hope to reverse the current trends afflicting our children, we must hold the large, multi-billion-dollar companies responsible for the part they play in creating highly addictive products.
While the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our oldest Californians is well known, the pandemic also has caused widespread emotional suffering among California’s children and youth.
Out of this crisis, Gov. Gavin Newsom has demonstrated visionary leadership in making a historic $4.4 billion investment to transform the state’s behavioral health system for youth.
A bill making its way through the California legislature seeks to establish 100 youth drop-in centers across the state to support young people with mental health, substance use and physical health issues.
One year after securing $37 million in state funding for programs that keep young people out of the criminal justice system, an assemblyman from Los Angeles is seeking to more than double support for the initiative in next year’s budget.
California voters think major reforms of the state’s criminal justice system are needed, and they support changes that would focus on prevention and rehabilitation programs targeted at young people, according to a new poll released Thursday.
Sacramento’s Office of Youth Development — created as the only standalone city department dedicated to youth in the Sacramento region — has been folded into the city’s Parks Department to save money in tough economic times. But city officials and community members say they think the office can remain effective if it continues the kind of work that has been typical of its first three years in business.
In the music industry it’s all about who you know. And contrary to popular belief, not every kid in Orange County has Mickey Mouse on speed dial. An Anaheim program bridges that gap by helping at-risk kids learn music production skills.
Derrick Bedford spent his youth shuttling into and out of juvenile hall on drug charges. Now he runs a program that helps change the lives of troubled youth who are genuinely interested in change. He works in the same jail where he was once locked up.
Fresno youth are documenting the conditions in their neighborhoods with photos and essays as part of the PhotoVoices project sponsored by New America Media.