Much like the needs of Californians, there are many different types of professionals who make up the state’s behavioral health workforce. Here’s your break down all clinical and non-clinical behavioral health providers: what they do, credentials needed, and more.
As of July 1, 2026, counties are operating under their BHSA Integrated Plans. Here’s your guide to what they are, how they differ from prior plans, and how to read one yourself.
When navigating California behavioral health policy, you cannot escape the alphabet soup of acronyms. This is your essential cheat sheet to mental health and substance use disorder acronyms, organized by treatment models, facilities, state agencies, and legislative initiatives.
BHCIP funding has reached a wide geographic footprint across California, with dozens of counties represented in each round and near-statewide coverage for mobile crisis investments.
The Assembly’s 2026-27 budget plan, released today, allocates $125 million from the 988 State Suicide and Behavioral Health Crisis Services Fund to fund mobile crisis teams dispatched through 988 centers.
The Behavioral Health Services Act (BHSA) represents a large portion of the state’s funding for mental health and substance use programs. The May Revision leverages BHSA funding in an attempt to balance the budget that directly impacts California’s behavioral health systems—both in terms of funding and access. Here’s exactly how the May Revision proposes redistributing BHSA funding and what this could mean for California’s behavioral health landscape.
How AI is currently being used in mental health care, the potential benefits and risks of those applications, the emerging regulatory landscape, and the policy questions states and health systems are beginning to confront.
The May Budget revision appears to maintain the January budget proposal to make mobile crisis programs an optional benefit, putting the future of these critical crisis services at risk.
This special interview series with California Governor candidates examines how candidates would address homelessness, mental health care access, addiction, and public safety.
The first 2026 Steinberg Institute Champion is Michael Mason. As Section Chief of the San Francisco Fire Department Community Paramedicine Division, Chief Mason is rewriting the script for mental health and substance use crisis response in California.