The Governor Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday $480.5 million in grants for 54 projects that will improve mental health infrastructure for California's children and youth.
The historic investment will provide grant funds to build new facilities and expand existing ones that serve children, youth, transition-age youth, and perinatal individuals with mental health, substance abuse, and disorder issues.
“Too many Californians are battling mental illness and substance abuse. These funds will support critical mental health and substance use disorder treatment centers that are committed to serving the diverse range of children and youth covered by Medi-Cal,” Newsom said.
These projects will increase care, especially in the least restrictive community settings, with community youth wellness and prevention centers, substance use disorder outpatient treatment, school-linked health centers, and community outpatient mental health clinics.
Projects include $57.4 million for a psychiatric intensive care hospital. In Los Angeles, Kedren South Psychiatric Intensive Care Hospital and Children's Village will receive funding for a 36-bed psychiatric acute care hospital.
In addition, there will be $27.6 million to treat substance use disorder at Boost Slots in Orange County. Orange County Health Care Agency to Expand Adolescent Residential Treatment Facilities for Youth Suffering from Substance Use Disorder ?SUD? with 32 beds, SUD perinatal residential with 24 beds and a community mental health outpatient clinic with 2,626 spaces.
Also, $9.3 million to fund an adult residential treatment facility in Watsonville. The facility will assist Californians suffering from SUD, with seven beds and 106-space outpatient treatment.
Similarly, $7.9 million to fund an Outpatient Community Mental Health Clinic in Hoopa. Administered by the Yurok Youth Center, the grant funds 300 seats at the clinic, a 1,450-seat community youth wellness and prevention center, 27-seat SUD outpatient treatment and a 50-seat school-linked health center.
“With significant and innovative state and federal investments in homelessness, health care delivery reform, and the social safety net, California is addressing historic gaps to meet the growing demand for services and supports for children and youth across the state. said Dr. Mark Ghaly, secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency.
For her part, the director of the California Department of Health Care and Services -DHCS, for its acronym in English?, Michelle Baass, said that "these investments offer a unique opportunity to expand new capacity and address gaps in the evaluation of needs within the California behavioral health continuum.
In California, rates of serious mental illness and substance use disorders are highest for people ages 18-25, and rates of children and youth experiencing behavioral health issues, youth emergency department visits for issues mental health and youth suicides continue to rise.
Research shows that half of all lifetime diagnosable mental illness cases begin by age 14, three-quarters begin by age 24, and most substance use begins in adolescence, emphasizing the need to strengthen prevention and early identification and intervention services.
Additionally, across the state, 13 percent of children ages 3 to 17 report having at least one mental, emotional, developmental, or behavioral health problem, and 8 percent of children have a serious emotional disturbance that limits participation in daily activity.
Notably, DHCS is releasing $2.1 billion through six rounds of grants targeting various gaps in the infrastructure of the state's behavioral health facilities.
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