On Wednesday, the San Mateo County Mayors Mental Health Initiative announced a $250,000 investment from the San Mateo County Mayor's Office. Chan Zuckerberg Initiativea fund advised by the Silicon Valley Community Foundation to support greater access to mental health resources throughout the community.
The investment will support three non-profit organizations: Star Vista, Daly City Youth Health Center and the UNA VIDA program through OneLife Counseling.
The funds will improve staff recruitment and retention, expand access to free and reduced-fee services, provide services in Spanish, and allow for "mental health days" for workers in the field to avoid burnout.
The funds will also support improved access to services for thousands of San Mateo County residents.
"These programs reflect some of the urgent needs that the Mayor's Mental Health Initiative identified in the community. The access gap has grown during COVID and inflation and the cost of housing keep new providers from coming to our area," said Redwood City Mayor Giselle Hale and San Carlos Mayor Sara McDowell in a joint statement.
"We are grateful to the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative for stepping forward to help fund them," they added.
For her part, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative San Mateo County Partnerships Director Andrea Jones said, "Expanding access to mental health resources for San Mateo County residents is very important to ensuring the health of the community.
The San Mateo County Mayors' Mental Health Initiative was launched in January 2022 by Redwood City Mayor Giselle Hale and San Carlos Mayor Sara McDowell as a direct response to a growing need in local communities for access to mental health care resources.
Since its launch, 16 San Mateo County mayors have signed on to the common mission of promoting awareness and access to mental health resources.
Pacifica Mayor Mary Bier and South San Francisco Councilmember Eddie Flores have served with Hale and McDowell on the steering committee that formed this proposal. Both have professional experience in the mental health field.
"We have seen a tremendous increase in mental health needs in our community over the past two years and a widening gap in access to much-needed care. With these funds we will be able to provide more than 600 free individual and family therapy sessions and 100 hours of group therapy to members of our community," said Annya Shapiro, executive director of the Daly City Youth Health Center.
The San Mateo County Mayors' Mental Health Initiative is based on a program of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The goals of the initiative are to raise awareness of mental health issues by engaging communities in a dialogue about mental health challenges and available resources and to address access issues by increasing therapy services.
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