By Moryt Milo At a holiday party in December 2014, Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian was pulled aside by a friend and asked a very simple question: Why are there no inpatient psychiatric beds for children and adolescents in mental health crisis in Santa Clara County? Even though Simitian had been serving in public…
By Moryt Milo For those who are uninsured and in need of mental health services, the prospect of finding help is daunting. But there is a solution. Santa Clara County operates a long-time program that caters to this demographic. It starts with a phone call to the county’s Behavioral Health Call Center. The screener determines…
Receiving a diagnosis of a mental health condition can be a traumatic experience. It can leave a person feeling hopeless and alone. However, recovery is possible! Studies have shown that in addition to medical treatment and psychotherapy, social connections play a significant role in recovery. NAMI-Santa Clara County’s Community Peer Program (CPP) is a 4-month…
CARE is a compassionate civil court process that provides individuals with schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorders with a clinically appropriate, community-based set of services and supports that are culturally and linguistically competent. Stephanie Welch, Deputy Secretary of Behavioral Health for the California Health and Human Services (CalHHS) Agency, will provide an overview of CARE,…
By Moryt Milo The air was crisp and the energy was electric as Palo Alto University (PAU) opened its Mountain View campus just steps away from the city’s downtown core. The small private nonprofit university has only one mission—to graduate doctoral, master’s, and bachelor’s students in the field of behavioral health—which the university has been…
On July 27, 2022, the County of Santa Clara launched the Behavioral Health Navigator Program, intended to help individuals and families find information about mental health and substance use services in the county. Any resident in Santa Clara County can call the behavioral health non crisis line at 800-704-0900, option 4, and a peer navigator…
By Moryt Milo Momentum for Health, one of the largest nonprofit agencies in Santa Clara County, helps youth and adults diagnosed with mental health disorders. The nonprofit focuses on the whole person by recognizing that successful treatment requires viewing the individual’s health through a 360-degree lens. CEO and president David Mineta said Momentum’s goal is…
Bindu Khurana-Brown will be presenting on the wide continuum of services offered by Momentum for Health. Momentum for Health is the largest provider of behavioral health services to adults in Santa Clara County and understands the complexity that comes alongside working with those who have serious mental illness. The program offerings include a wide variety…
By Moryt Milo It’s a rare moment when a proposed law reshaping the mental health landscape receives unprecedented support. It’s even more stunning when it’s enacted within eight months. This is what occurred after Gov. Gavin Newsom laid out his CARE Court proposal. On Sept. 14, 2022, Gov. Newsom signed the Community Assistance, Recovery and…
By Moryt Milo When an adult child is arrested, and the underlying issue is due to a mental illness, parents are frightened and have no idea where to turn. Alone, they scramble for information. There is help, though, through NAMI and its Family Jail Support Group. This monthly group can provide the necessary tools to…