Our plan to transform mental health
and substance use care in California
California faces a mental health crisis. Substance use rates have skyrocketed. Tens of thousands of people struggling with addiction and mental illness are cycling through our city streets, hospital emergency rooms and jail cells. At the same time, our behavioral health workforce is overwhelmed and understaffed, hospitals are overcrowded and our criminal justice system is dealing with a challenge it isn’t built for.
Over the past decade, billions of dollars have been invested through initiatives like the Behavioral Health Services Act, CalAIM, and BH-CONNECT.
But despite billions invested, access has not improved enough, and we are unable to track meaningful outcomes for Californians living with these conditions.
Vision 2030: A plan for change
In 2023, we launched the Vision 2030 initiative to intervene in the mental health and substance use humanitarian crisis gripping California and get people the help they need.
Vision 2030 is our plan to come armed with information, ready to rally resources where they are needed, and ultimately have care systems in this state that are rising to the challenge and helping people. We’ll challenge assumptions, ensure transparency and provide recommendations based on solid data to fix what’s broken and rapidly scale what’s working.
Our goals are intentionally ambitious. Without a high bar, the state risks letting complacency prevent true progress.
Build our workforce
Modernize and strengthen California’s behavioral health workforce to meet the diverse needs of the entire state.
Reduce homelessness
Reduce the number of unhoused people with mental illness or substance use disorder by half.
Reduce incarceration
Reduce hospitalization
Reduce the number of people entering hospital emergency departments due to behavioral health crises by half.
Vision 2030 Progress Report
The progress we’ve made toward achieving our Vision 2030 goals and expanding access to care for California’s most vulnerable populations.
Vision 2030 Solution Symposium
Launched in 2025, the Vision 2030 Solution Symposium brings together the most influential visionaries, changemakers, and advocates to discuss how to transform California’s behavioral health systems of care.
Held in Sacramento, the symposium is a powerful demonstration of leaders across sectors working together to drive real, systemic change.
Vision 2030 Ideas to Action Convening Series
The Vision 2030 Ideas to Action Convening Series brings together leaders from across sectors—including policymakers, providers, advocates, philanthropy, and individuals with lived experience—to surface near-term, practical solutions that can inform legislative and administrative action.
In 2025, the Institute hosted four convenings, each focused on one of Vision 2030’s focus areas: Workforce, Homelessness, Incarceration, and Hospitalization.
Since launching Vision 2030, our advocacy work has focused on expanding access to evidence-based care for our most vulnerable residents, building out a crisis care continuum that prioritizes community response and alternative destinations, and ensuring commercial insurance plans cover needed mental health and substance use treatment services.
Our implementation arm officially launched in 2025. As an implementation partner, we bring a deep understanding of the policy and research landscape to support our partners in advancing leadership buy-in, capacity building, knowledge sharing, and use of best practices.
AB 988 and the Crisis Care Continuum: A Strategic Blueprint for Setting Proper Outcome Measures
This policy brief identifies 988 outcomes measures that move beyond operational call center metrics and measure people-focused outcomes, efficiencies in connecting individuals to care, and more.
Research Report: Assessing How California Counties Determine Levels of Care for Serious Mental Illness
New research from the Steinberg Institute takes an in-depth look at how California counties define and assess levels of care for adult individuals diagnosed with serious mental illnesses (SMIs).
Research Report: Assessing Level of Care Gaps in California’s Behavioral Health Crisis Continuum
To help policymakers, providers, and stakeholders better understand the state of behavioral health crisis care in California, our research team released a report assessing crisis care capacity across the state.
Become a Vision 2030 Partner
Become an official Vision 2030 Partner to help make our Vision 2030 goals a reality. By becoming a monthly donor, you will power the research, advocacy, and implementation needed to ensure every Californian can access care when and where it’s needed.
Vision 2030 Partners receive exclusive benefits, including gifts, early access to Steinberg Institute events, quarterly debriefs, policy briefings, and more — plus the knowledge that you’re part of building a future where recovery and dignity are possible for all.
