Breaking Barriers California

Welcome (presentation slides)

Speaker:

Saran Tugshargal, Commissioner, California Department of Education Advisory Commission Special Education

Transforming the way California supports children, youth and families (Dr. Sohil Sud presentation slides)

San Bernardino County: taking the steps to make [it] real (Stephanie Houston presentation slides)

Speakers

• Dr. Sohil Sud, Director, Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative (CYBHI)

• Stephanie Houston, Assistant Superintendent San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools

Toward Whole Child/Whole Student Services: Shared Leadership (presentation deck)

Speaker

• Richard Knecht, Managing Partner, Integrated Human Services Group

In his panel discussion, Garth Lewis, Yolo County Superintendent of Schools, explores the power of shared leadership as a driving force behind sustainable, impactful change. In his shared presentation, alongside Gina Daleiden, Executive Director for First 5 Yolo, Superintendent Lewis emphasizes that the true key to success lies in our collective ability to prioritize trust, transparency, and respect in all of our interactions. 

Effective shared leadership requires going deeper than surface-level formalities in order to build genuine personal connections among stakeholders. He discusses the importance of creating a culture where every partner, from local government agencies to non-profits and educational institutions, has a seat at the table and a voice in decision-making. By fostering trust, transparency, and open communication, organizations can align their efforts more effectively, ensuring that the needs of the community are at the forefront.

Drawing on the example of the Roadmap to the Future initiative in Yolo County, Superintendent Lewis illustrates how shared leadership has led to stronger organizational partnerships and collaborative synergy in Yolo County, resulting in transformational impact on the lives of children, youth, and families. He emphasizes that system alignment—where roles are clear and actions are coordinated—is critical for achieving collective goals. The presentation concludes with practical strategies for cultivating shared leadership, and how this leads to transformational change.

The Culture of Shared Leadership (presentation deck)

Speakers:

• Gina Daleiden, Executive Director, First 5 Yolo

• Garth Lewis, Superintendent of Schools, Yolo County

Layout/Location of Shared Leadership Learning Sessions

The California Collaborative for Educational Excellence (CCEE) has contracted with the Santa Clara County Office of Education (SCCOE) to develop an Integrated Systems Toolkit for local leaders as they work to strengthen interagency relationships, build out AB 2083 workgroups, and support creation of "whole child" systems of care. This presentation will provide an overview of the toolkit and the resources it will offer to help integrated systems workgroups develop strong shared leadership by establishing buy-in, common understandings, and specific, measurable goals.

Speakers:

• Chris Hartley, Deputy Executive Director, CCEE

• Amanda Dickey, Executive Director of Government Relations, Santa Clara County Office of Education

• Elizabeth Estes, Founder and Executive Director, Breaking Barriers California

The number of initiatives across California seems to be multiplying. Teachers are asked to implement many different, but similar, projects and programs. School leaders are struggling to get their staff excited about these new requests, while districts weigh the costs and benefits of making one more ask for one more initiative. How can leaders across various levels of the educational system "turn down the white noise" and support folks working most closely with students to implement holistic practices so all learners can thrive? 

Speaker

Gretchen Livesey, Director of Partner Impact, Center for Whole-Child Education, Arizona State University

COEs can play a critical role in facilitating and deepening the Shared Leadership work. Through the CA Community Schools Partnership Program, COEs are receiving an allocation specifically to better understand and enhance the county’s Integrated System of Supports – so they have some resources to dedicate to this work. But how to lead with humility, curiosity, determination – and also, truly make it Shared Leadership?

Speakers:

• Dr. Hayin Kimner – Managing Director, Community Schools Learning Exchange (CSLX)

• Dr. Sonia Llamas – Chief Academic Officer, Orange County Department of Education

• Lara Kain – Community Administrator, Orange County Department of Education

The El Dorado County Commission for Youth and Families is using a collaborative leadership approach to break down systemic barriers  and create durable changes. In this session, you'll learn how the Commission brings together community voices to make decisions and plan strategically, on how to align systems and better serve youth and families.

The Commission's success comes from a dedicated, blended leadership team that saw the potential for real collaboration. With strong support from elected officials, agency leaders, community members with firsthand experience and youth, the Commission has built a foundation of widespread support and trust. This collaborative leadership has been the key to pushing the work forward and overcoming past challenges.

This session will walk you through the processes and outcomes of this shared leadership model, showing how working together leads to innovative problem-solving. You’ll come away with insights on how to build the groundwork for sustainable system change—ensuring that in El Dorado County, families can easily access the services they need to thrive.

For more information about the Commission's current efforts, visit El Dorado County Commission for Youth and Families. To learn about how the Commission got started, read The Bellwether Report. 

What’s going to be different this time? Dedicated Leadership for Youth and Families (presentation slides)

Speakers

• Ed Manansala, County Superintendent of Schools, El Dorado County Office of Education

• Deanna Santana, Program Coordinator, El Dorado County Commission for Youth and Families

• Brian Richart, Chief of Probation, El Dorado County Probation

• Adrianna Webb, Director of Residential Services, New Morning Youth and Family Services

This learning session will focus on key strategies employed by the Transformational Change Partnership (TCP) to disrupt common norms and practices in government agencies to facilitate the development of shared leadership for transformational change. TCP provides public sector agency teams with knowledge, learning experiences, and implementation support to lead the implementation of transformative system change. The program fosters shared learning among multi-level teams, making it easier to implement necessary changes while building the team’s capacity to lead and sustain transformative system-level improvements. TCP emphasizes human-centered design, cross-system leadership, community engagement, and a focus on outcomes as essential to developing client-oriented, comprehensive, and cost-effective care that improves lives and reduces disparities. Participants will have an opportunity to explore how lessons learned from TCP can be applied to fostering shared leadership for system integration.

Speaker

William Rhett, Managing Director of Behavioral Health, Third Sector; Transformational Change Partnership

Join Yolo County Superintendent of Schools, Garth Lewis, in this interactive workshop that dives deeper into the principles of shared leadership explored in his keynote presentation. This session is designed for leaders and practitioners looking to strengthen collaboration and drive sustainable, systemic change within their organizations and communities.

This session will explore the idea that shared leadership is the magic potion in creating true collaboration and “synergy” within and between organizations, and it starts with building authentic relationships based on common understanding. Participants will gain insights into creating a culture where stakeholders—from government agencies to non-profits and schools—feel valued, heard, and actively engaged in decision-making processes.

Using the Roadmap to the Future countywide initiative as a case study, Garth will illustrate how shared leadership has been pivotal in forming stronger partnerships and delivering meaningful results for children, youth, and families in Yolo County. Attendees will explore practical strategies for cultivating trust, transparency, and open communication that led to better coordination and alignment among partners.

By the end of this session, participants will have a clearer understanding of how to foster a collaborative culture by embracing the human connections that make partnerships truly thrive. This workshop is ideal for those seeking actionable approaches to turn shared leadership into real, lasting change.

Speakers

Garth Lewis, County Superintendent of Schools, Yolo County Office of Education

The Decoded campaign is a collaborative initiative that bridges the gap between behavioral health and public health departments across California, fostering shared goals and leveraging resources to address youth substance use. Originally launched as Cannabis Decoded in 2018 by the County of San Mateo, the campaign has expanded to provide reliable, factual information related to substance use and mental health, as well as resources for young people and their trusted adults.

In this session, we’ll discuss how a key feature of Decoded is the active involvement of youth in shaping the campaign. Through youth-led councils and advisory groups, young people provide essential insights that ensure the campaign resonates authentically with their peers. Decoded employs innovative strategies such as edu-gaming, grassroots outreach, and healing through art programming, creating engaging, non-judgmental conversations about mental health and substance use. Grounded in radical trust, Decoded meets young people where they are, fostering authentic dialogue without relying on fear or shame.

The conversation will continue with the afternoon session, "Cross-County Collaboration & Innovative Strategies."

Speakers

• Jasmin Flores, Director of Communications, The Social Changery

• Edith Cabuslay, M.P.H., Program Services Manager, San Mateo County Health System

Children, youth, and young adults across the nation have been experiencing significant mental health and substance use challenges – a crisis that was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and led the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP), and the Children’s Hospital Association (CHA) to declare a national emergency in child and adolescent mental health. This crisis also led the United States Surgeon General to issue an advisory on ‘Protecting Youth Mental Health.’ 

To address this crisis, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) created a priority focus on child and youth behavioral health as part of the 2023-2026 SAMHSA Strategic Plan. In this plan, SAMHSA recommends responding to the urgent needs of children, youth and families through a tiered public health approach that emphasizes wellness, prevention, early intervention, along with treatment and recovery services. The goal is to expand access to effective interventions and match each child with the right service at the right time through a comprehensive and integrated system of care.

For this session, Dr. Blau will highlight the need for ‘Seismic Shifts’ to transform the system and improve outcomes. These seismic shifts include integration across child-serving systems and the scaling of systems of care, expansion of school-based and school-linked behavioral health services, the implementation of mobile response and crisis stabilization services, expanding workforce capacity and increasing access to services and supports, reducing health disparities and promoting culturally appropriate services, and incorporating the use of evidence-based interventions and measurement-based care. Dr. Blau will also discuss the role of technology to support the behavioral health of children, youth and families, including the impacts of social media, and he will highlight the importance of leadership to bring about system improvement. 

Transforming the Child, Youth, and Family Behavioral Health System: Time for Seismic Shifts to Better Integrate Services and Supports! (presentation slides)

Speaker:

Dr. Gary M. Blau, past Chief, Child, Adolescent and Family Branch at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)

To be announced

Sacramento County Office of Education has partnered with County Department of Health Services to bring the education and health systems together and work to transform schools into Centers of Wellness. Through this partnership, mental health practitioners are placed in schools designated as satellite centers of the county Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) to facilitate a sustainable, revenue generating model of school based mental health. In this session, participants will hear from an expert panel, representing the team serving an elementary school in Galt, including the school principal, school social work, clinician, family navigator, and other critical partners about the impact this has made on their school community. 

Making Schools the Center of Wellness: Sacramento County School-Based Mental Health & Wellness (presentation deck)

Speakers

• Lien Xi, Clinician, Sacramento County Office of Education

• Erica Gavidia, Clinician II, Sacramento County Office of Education

• Gabe Leporati, Coordinator, Sacramento County Office of Education

• Jazmin Peguero, School Counselor, Vernon E Greer Elementary School

• Stephanie Simonich, Principal, Vernon E Greer Elementary School, Galt Joint Union Elementary School District

• Chris Williams, Executive Director, Mental Health and Wellness, Sacramento County Office of Education (SCOE)

Layout/Location of Shared Goals Learning Sessions

Are your educators grappling with the challenges they face with a growing neurodiverse student population? Do they feel overwhelmed by the learning and behavioral health needs of their students? 

Children’s Health Council (CHC) set out on a journey to find a way to streamline getting needed expertise to every educator. We think that new technologies, like AI, can help us do that.

Pairing trustworthy resources with AI can put that expertise in every educator’s hands by providing actionable insights and practical strategies for the challenges that educators face every day.

CHC has been providing learning and mental health services for students and families in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 70 years and is now bringing that expertise to educators on a national scale. Along with a coalition of trusted partner organizations, we are providing easy to access resources that are specific to their situation, their students and their classroom through the power of AI.

Come and be among the first to see the latest prototype of this exciting new resource that is currently in development! It’s the expertise you want and need at your fingertips. With Ellis, all you do is add information about challenges you are facing with students, and you’ll receive valuable, practical strategies and insights you can use from trusted, expert resources.

Meet Ellis: Support + Expertise for Every Educator (presentation slides)

Speakers

Cindy Lopez, Director, Community Engagement, Children's Health Council (CHC)
Additional speakers to be announced

School-based mental health provision and funding has been siloed between special education and general education. With the recent revision of AB114 (Educationally Related Mental Health) State and Federal funding allocations shifting from the SELPAs to LEAs, this has impacted rural service delivery.

With the advent of the Multi-Payer Fee Schedule and the push to scale up School-Based Mental Health access (CYBHI). It is essential for rural CA (and likely all communities) that alignment of funding and resources are explored to strengthen the ecosystem of mental health and wellness for all student groups. This requires partnerships and reimagining access and service delivery.

This session will be a facilited discussion and brainstorm to explore new horizons of school-based mental health funding and implementation. The template “Logic Modeling in Plain Language” will guide the discussion in terms of “context, input, activities, outputs, and outcomes”. 

This discussion invites all interested voices – from County Offices of Educations, to districts, to state and community based agencies, and community members – it is through focused conversations and stepping outside of “what we have always done” into a “what is possible” mindset is what births innovation. Come join in on the fun!

Speakers

Peter Stoll, Director of Prevention and Intervention Services, Humboldt County Office of Education
Additional speakers to be announced

In recent years, the critical need for mental health integration within educational environments has gained increasing recognition. The unprecedented investment in California to support integration of school based mental health frameworks with LEAs has created a critical opportunity for partnership and collaboration.

This session will explore innovative partnerships between County Behavioral Health, County Office of Education, and local school districts (LESs) aimed at fostering a supportive school climate, enriching culture, and strengthening structural frameworks to address students’ mental health needs.

We will highlight collaborative initiatives that have led to the incorporation of mental health resources and supports within schools. These partnerships focus on training educators in trauma-informed practices, developing collaborative frameworks, cultivating an inclusive school culture, and implementing accessible support services that empower students to thrive academically and emotionally.

By addressing the value of partnership between mental health and education, this session aims to share with attendees actionable insights and strategies to create a holistic environment that prioritizes student well-being. Together, we can build a stronger foundation for mental health support within our schools, ultimately enhancing student wellness, resilience, and the overall educational experience for all students.

Enhancing School Climate Through County Behavioral Health Partnerships: Integrating Mental Health into Educational Frameworks (presentation slides)

Speakers

Marni Sandoval, Deputy Director of Behavioral Health, Child and Adolescent Services, Behavioral Health Bureau, County of Monterey Health Department

A continuation of the panel discussion just prior to the Learning Session.

Speakers

Chris Williams, Executive Director, Mental Health and Wellness, Sacramento County Office of Education
Additional speakers to be announced

The Santa Clara County Office of Education (SCCOE) has received a state grant to develop a county-level integrated system of care dashboard that pulls in existing metrics and incorporates AI tools to interpret and contextualize data in a way that empowers integrated systems workgroups to more effectively collaborate, communicate, streamline, and improve services for children and families. At this breakout session, SCCOE will provide an overview of the dashboard's core components, foundational principles, and user-friendly features and functionality. Presenters will also offer examples of how the dashboard can be used by integrated systems teams to identify community-specific gaps, inequities, and inter-agency solutions.

Speakers

Amanda Dickey, Executive Director of Government Relations, Santa Clara County Office of Education
Additional speakers to be announced

The Steinberg Institute is a leading independent nonprofit committed to advancing bold behavioral health public policy solutions. Our vision is for all people to have access to quality care—when, where, and for as long as they need it. Over the past 20 years, the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) has infused billions into California’s mental health system, transforming countless lives. Yet, despite more than doubling behavioral health spending in the past decade, access to care has stagnated, and meaningful outcome tracking remains elusive.

Proposition 1 and the Behavioral Health Services Act (BHSA) aim to change this. As stewards of the original MHSA—guided by the vision of our founder who championed the original legislation—the Steinberg Institute is dedicated to ensuring the success of these transformative initiatives. Through our Vision 2030 initiative, we advocate for systems that not only track meaningful outcomes but also deliver programs proven to reduce incarceration, hospitalization, and homelessness. Equally critical is our focus on strengthening California’s behavioral health workforce, ensuring they are empowered to support our most vulnerable communities.

As the state of California makes unprecedented investments in behavioral health transformation, it's clear that all partners working in behavioral health (public and private) will be needed to ensure success. This discussion will explore the opportunity to partner collaboratively around shared goals in Proposition 1 and the BHSA. The session will identify strategies for engaging key collaborators, identifying key outcomes, and working together to improve the lives of individuals living with behavioral health conditions.

Speaker

Karen Larsen, Chief Executive Officer, Steinberg Institute

The Decoded campaign is a collaborative initiative that bridges the gap between behavioral health and public health departments across California, fostering shared goals and leveraging resources to address youth substance use. Originally launched as Cannabis Decoded in 2018 by the County of San Mateo, the campaign has expanded to provide reliable, factual information related to substance use and mental health as well as resources for young people and their trusted adults. Through cross-county collaboration, Decoded enables public health systems to share resources and extend their reach, optimizing funding by creating a unified campaign adaptable to each county’s unique needs.

In this session, we will explore the importance of cross-county collaboration and the innovative ideas that have emerged from the Decoded campaign. Examples include utilizing an Office of Traffic Safety grant to develop a harm-reduction cannabis DUI campaign and implementing the Healing Through Art initiative for youth in schools. Participants will learn how various counties have effectively adapted materials, demonstrating the power of shared resources and collaborative efforts in addressing youth substance use. This session will emphasize how working together enhances the reach and impact of prevention and education efforts across California.

The conversation is a continuation of the earlier session, "Youth Involvement in Building the Decoded Campaign."

Speakers

• Vivian Ávila, Chronic Disease Prevention Coordinator, Monterey County Health Department (MCHD)

• Jasmin Flores, Director of Communications, The Social Changery

• Elaine Narciso, Health Program Supervisor, Monterey County Health Department

This panel will focus on sharing early findings from a forthcoming research publication investigating California's children and youth policy-making process and specifically the current and future implications for pursuing a more integrated approach to policy, funding, and implementation support. The panel will feature views from the State Legislature, advocacy, and local practitioners and reveal the short- and long-run opportunities to spur change.

Integrated Care Policymaking: Keeping Whole Child Central from the Start (presentation slides)

Speakers

• Phebe Bell, Behavioral Health Director, Nevada County Mental Health/Behavioral Health

• Lishaun Francis, Senior Director, Behavioral Health, Children Now

• Myisha Jackson, Budget Committee Staff, California State Assembly

• Moderator: Jason Willis, Clinical Professor of Public Policy, Director of Transformational Change Partnership, McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific

This session focuses on the countywide and statewide gaps in data for youth experiencing homelessness that led to the creation of a California McKinney Vento Data workgroup bringing researchers, academics, advocates, COEs, and CDE together to identify address gaps and start to create political will for equitable funding.   The group convened over 125 educators, civic leaders, policymakers, researchers, advocates, philanthropists, and youth leaders for the Catalyzing Action Exchange: Building an Equitable Educational System Centering Students Experiencing Homelessness and through that action a bill and budget request have been proposed to support the one thing we know breaks generational poverty – education. 

Youth panel video: “SEEN -  Housing Insecurity Amongst K-12 Youth”

The Bill Is Due: The Cost of Inaction for Youth Experiencing Homelessness And The Road To Breaking Generational Poverty (presentation deck)

Speakers:

• Paige Clark, Senior Program and Policy Manager, National Center for Youth Law

• Deborah McCoy, Research Professor/Executive Director, UC Berkeley - Center for Cities + Schools

• Margaret Olmos, Director, Compassionate Education Systems, National Center for Youth Law

• Pixie Popplewell, Director, California Homeless Youth Project

Layout/Location of Shared Information Learning Sessions

Collecting data is not enough! Leveraging data and information across systems is how we coordinate care and fund services for the whole child. With a focus on IT solutions and centering student data protection and privacy, this learning session provides participants with the opportunity to join a multi-disciplinary panel as they take you on their journey of making this REAL. In this session, you will hear where they started, where they are now and the questions they are still grappling with as they implement a school-based countywide Data Warehouse, Electronic Health Record System and their efforts to co-join data across county child serving agencies. Whether you are a County Office of Education, Technology Company, Community-Based Provider, County Behavioral Health or representing another child serving entity, join us as the panel shares “their” emerging story, facilitates a collaborative discussion with you and provides resources that might help you on your journey to Shared Information.

Available Resources, including Data Warehouse & Analytics, Software, and Data Sharing Agreement

Speakers

• Chaun Powell, Sr. Chief, Student Services, Alameda County Office of Education

• Allan Garde, Associate Superintendent Business Services, Alameda County Office of Education

• Sheila Post, Account Executive K-12, Salesforce

• Meredith Brown, Esq., Partner, Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Rudd & Romo (AALRR)

• Hirokai Ajari, Mirketa

• Mathew Falkner, Sales Director & HLS SME, Mirketa

As education and health unite services and supports for children and youth, this session is designed for stakeholders across agencies to gain a better understanding of the Health Insurance Portability and AccountabilityAct (HIPAA) and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and their application, particularly in the context of educational settings. This session will dive into some of the commonly asked questions in school-based and school-linked health programs governed by HIPAA and FERPA and discuss scenarios pertaining to current implementation. Please come join us as we learn to effectively break barriers to expanded care and support for California’s children, youth and families.

HIPAA, FERPA and Information Sharing (presentation slides)

Speakers:

• Elizabeth Estes, Executive Director, Breaking Barriers California; Clinical Professor of Public Policy, McGeorge School of Law

• Rebecca Gudeman, Senior Director, Health National Center for Youth Law (NYCL)

Nearly half of California youth report mental health issues; 1 in 3 endorse serious psychological  distress that interferes with academic and social functioning1. We need expanded prevention  and early intervention services for young people. However, California has too few behavioral  health providers who are unevenly distributed throughout the state, leaving those in rural and  under-resourced communities especially underserved. This problem will not improve:  projections indicate shortages worsening over time2. We require service alternatives that  transcend traditional in-person care, create a diverse and sustainable workforce, and embrace  population health approaches aiding youth before reaching clinical thresholds.  

California has invested in technology to address young people’s needs through universally  accessible and timely access to care. As part of the Children and Youth Behavioral Health  Initiative, the California Department of Healthcare Services (DHCS) partnered with Kooth to  launch Soluna, a digital mental health platform providing free mental health support to all  California youth aged 13-25. Soluna delivers support via three pathways: self-guided resources,  a moderated peer support community, and 1-to-1 sessions with coaches. Soluna launched in  January 2024. This presentation will demonstrate how DHCS and Kooth are partnering to  successfully deploy an evidence-based, youth-driven, digital solution for essential mental health  support services.  

Citations:  

1. Wright, Blanche, et al. (2021). "Health Policy Brief." 

2. Coffman & Siss, (2023), Building the Future Behavioral Health Workforce: Needs  Assessment, Healthforce Center, UCSF

Speakers:

• Dr. Laura Tully, Ph.D., VP of Partnerships, Kooth

• Walther Perez, Integrations & Partnerships Manager, Kooth

• Kade Smith, Community Engagement Lead, Kooth

Background: Through Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative (CYBHI), CalHHS aims to inspire systems change by strengthening opportunities for partnership and building foundational elements for more coordinated efforts across the children and youth behavioral health ecosystem. 

Purpose/Session objectives: As part of an evaluation of the CYBHI, Mathematica is conducting case studies in nine counties to describe the behavioral health ecosystems that serve children, youth, and families in each county; understand how CYBHI workstreams and other behavioral health initiatives are progressing; and determine how ecosystems evolve during CYBHI implementation. 

In this session, we explore (1) connections and working relationships between child- and youth-serving organizations; (2) spotlight multisector collaboratives; (3) facilitators and barriers to multisector collaboration, which refers to organizations from different sectors working together; and (4) how the ecosystem supports implementation of CYBHI workstreams and other behavioral health programs and initiatives. 

Methods: The case studies include the Network and Ecosystem Experiences Survey (NEES) and key informant interviews conducted with representatives of child- and youth-serving organizations. 

 We asked an administrator from the county behavioral health department or county office of education to serve as a champion for the study. Champions helped identify potential respondents and encourage their participation. They also helped the research team select two multisector collaboratives in each county that support children and youth behavioral health and systems change for inclusion on the survey and interview guides. We completed the first wave of data collection between April and August 2024 and will complete the second wave in fall 2025. We focus on findings from two geographically and demographically different counties in California: Humboldt County and Alameda County.

Main findings: We describe the strength of connections across the behavioral health ecosystems in Humboldt and Alameda County. For both counties, the strength of the connections between organization and level of connection for each organization varied. The multisector collaboratives in both counties have implemented strategies to create a more integrated ecosystem and have made progress to align and integrate systems. 

Conclusion: In the first year of implementation of CYBHI, counties show progress on developing partnerships and building foundational elements for more coordinated efforts across the children and youth behavioral health ecosystem.

Speakers: Ruchir Karmali, Ph.D, Amanda Lechner, MPP, Select County Representatives

Join Breaking Barriers, Monterey County, and CredibleMind at the 2024 Symposium to discover an innovative self-screening and resource referral program designed to address mental health and substance use disorders in community youth and families. This presentation will showcase Monterey County's recent success in reaching underserved populations through broad awareness efforts and an efficient self-screening tool that connects individuals to the appropriate local resources and self-help options.

Validated by a UC Berkeley evaluation team, this program has tripled Monterey County's reach dramatically improving access to care, particularly for populations with unmet needs, such as transitional age youth. The program’s implementation also correlated with reduced costs for the County, making it a sustainable model for other regions.

Speakers

Wesley Schweikard, Management Analyst, MHSA Innovations Coordinator, County of Monterey Behavioral Health Bureau

Additional speakers to be announced

Sustainability means different things to different systems.  Making the case for integrated systems of care, like the Child and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative is attempting to do, involves coordinated and collaborative partnerships.  The L.A. Trust developed a Data xChange to monitor and demonstrate the impact of school-based health systems have on a student’s ability to stay in school.

The session objectives are:

1. To review how the L.A. Trust Data xChange (a HIPPA/FERPA-protected system) was developed and used to analyze the impact of wellness interventions on school attendance

2. To learn how population health data can support better system monitoring and be used to elevate student and parent voice

3. To review how consistent seamless data reporting efficiently reduces administrative burden 

Putting the care in student healthcare (presentation deck)

Speakers

To be announced

From Shared to Integrated Finance: Unshackling Ourselves from History (presentation slides)

Speaker:

Jason Willis, Clinical Professor of Public Policy, Director of Transformational Change Partnership, McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific

This presentation will provide a brief overview of Fresno County Superintendent of Schools' (FCSS) All 4 Youth program. Participants will gain knowledge in Fresno County's continuum of mental health care including the multitiered systems of support. Learn how FCSS is bridging and braiding funding from Mental Health Services Oversight & Accountability Commission (MHSOAC), Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative (CYBHI), Student Behavioral Health Incentive Program (SBHIP), Mental Health Student Services Act (MHSSA), Transforming Together (T2), Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI), and District Assistance (DA).

Bridging & Braiding Mental Health Services to Ensure Access for All (presentation deck)

Speakers:

• Trina Fraizer, Assistant Superintendent, Student Services, Fresno County Superintendent of Schools

• Tammy Frates, Senior Director of Behavioral Health Programs, Fresno County Superintendent of Schools

• Trish Small, Senior Director of Pupil Personnel Services, Fresno County Superintendent of Schools

• Moderator: Michael Lombardo, Education and Health & Human Services Advisor, MCL Collaboration

Layout/Location of Shared Finance Learning Sessions

After 8 years, and with 37 funded sites across the state, CACHI continues to learn and evolve our understanding of the best ways for collaboratives to seek and manage resources. There are no shortcuts, but we have gleaned a number of lessons about how to move from intention to action. In this session, we'll talk about specific examples from across CACHI of decision making, transparency, and monitoring impact that support inclusive financing and also hear from one of the funded sites about their experience. 

Speaker:

Jeremy Cantor, Principal/Project Director, JSI

This Learning Session will focus on how to create sustainability by braiding funding from multiple funding sources such as Mental Health Student Services Act (MHSSA), Mental Health Services Oversight & Accountability Commission (MHSOAC), Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative (CYBHI), Student Behavioral Health Incentive Program (SBHIP), , Transforming Together (T2), the Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI), and district resources.

Speakers

• Trina Fraizer, Assistant Superintendent, Student Services, Fresno County Superintendent of Schools

• Trish Small, Senior Director of PPS, Fresno County Superintendent of Schools

• Tammy Frates, Senior Director of Behavioral Health Programs, Fresno County Superintendent of Schools

• Yvette Garcia, Director of Behavioral Health Clinical Services, Fresno County Superintendent of Schools

Session abstract: Earlier this year, ARPA-H -- a new federal agency, set up to pursue "moonshots" to improve the nation's health -- launched a $100 million population-health outcomes funding mechanism. The "Health Care Rewards to Achieve Improved Outcomes" (HEROES) program offers a $15 million prize to regions who achieve on of 4 transformative goals, such as a 10% reduction in opioid overdoses in a population of 500,000 or more. In this learning session, we'll dig into the HEROES program, its antecedents and enablers in the Pay for Success world, and how similar mechanisms could enable California to reach bigger for the state's children.

Solano County Office of Education will share the school-based mobile crisis model developed through a partnership with Solano County Behavioral Health and Local Education Agencies for supporting students who are experiencing acute mental health crises on their school campus. 

Participants will learn:

1. The factors that contributed to the development of the program, including community and school data. 

2. How to establish positive relationships that lead to successful collaboration with key partners. 

3. Clinical interventions utilized that lead to positive outcomes in the community including immediate crisis assessments, linkage to mental health resources, and reduction of law enforcement contact for mental health related concerns. 

4. How to support youth, their families, and school systems in creating a Safety & Support Plan for students to integrate back into school after a crisis.

5. Sustainability planning including braiding and blending of funds across agencies.

Speakers

• Nicola Parr, Senior Director, Student Services & Educational Options, Solano County Office of Education

• Camden Webb, Director of Clinical Services, Solano County Office of Education

Knowing what funding is available is one piece of the puzzle; navigating (and negotiating!) through the best strategies to leverage available funding fits those puzzle pieces together. With a focus on centering students and building a comprehensive system of school-based behavioral health supports that relies on partnerships, this learning session will guide participants through a facilitated discussion exploring case scenarios where shared financing can get tricky and embracing your partners’ perspectives is critical. Whether you’re a county office of education, school district, county behavioral health agency, or community-based provider, this session will challenge participants to analyze how they approach “their” funding and better understand how to navigate shared financing between partners.

Speaker

Lisa Eisenberg, Child and Youth Health Financing Project Director, WestEd