加州投資 5,600 萬美元擴大幼兒心理健康服務​​ 

薩克拉門托​​ 

– The Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) today awarded $56 million to 54 organizations across 34 counties through the Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative (CYBHI). This funding will expand access to early childhood mental health and wellness services, including services focused on prevention, early intervention, and resiliency/recovery for children and youth, with a specific focus on children and youth who are from the following groups: Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) and the LGBTQIA+ community.​​ 

“We are doubling down on tried-and-true mental health services that work,” said DHCS Director Michelle Baass. “Evidence-based and community-defined practices promote healthy early childhood development, improve coordination of services for families, and strengthen relationships between children and their caregivers. Through this work, DHCS aims to prevent and mitigate behavioral health challenges for the next generation of Californians so they can lead full, healthy lives.”​​ 

“California continues to recognize the value of investing in proven early childhood mental health supports in our communities and the immense impact it has on healthy social and emotional development of children and youth,” said Avo Makdessian, Executive Director of First 5 Association of California, which was awarded nearly $3.8 million across four counties.​​ 

WHY THIS MATTERS: Early childhood mental health services help professional and personal caregivers prevent negative long-term mental health impacts by providing training and support to ensure children have healthy early social and emotional development support. Collectively, these investments will help:​​ 

• 通過建立強大、多元化的家庭訪問工作人員，增加以文化和語言為中心，並可以滿足他們服務社區的需求的訪問和諮詢服務的訪問服務的訪問服務。​​ 
• 改善為孕婦和育兒人士及其家庭提供服務的協調。​​ 
• 透過積極的育兒訓練，加強孩子/照顧者的關係和家庭動態，以支持兒童健康發展的經驗證、有效的技能和策略。​​ 
• 通過減少情緒和行為挑戰，並增加早期識別發展問題，以改善照顧者的福祉，以及新生兒、兒童和母親的健康。​​ 
• 確保加州的父母、照顧者和兒童公平獲得服務，減少健康差距。​​ 

In addition to this expansion of proven mental health and wellness services and supports for parents and caregivers throughout the state, California is also working to improve access to critical behavioral health services that include treatment, housing, education, and employment support for children and youth.​​ 

AWARD DETAILS: Funded models under this opportunity include, but are not limited to, Healthy Families America, Nurse-Family Partnership, Family Spirit, Parents as Teachers, select components of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation, and a variety of other early childhood wraparound services.​​ 

EXAMPLES OF WORK BEING FUNDED: Healthy Families America, funded across 10 counties (Los Angeles, Sonoma, San Diego, Sacramento, Glenn, Alameda, San Bernardino, San Joaquin, Nevada, and Orange), is an evidenced-based home-visiting intervention program for pregnant people and families with children ages 0-5. The program strengthens parent-child relationships, promotes healthy childhood growth and development, and enhances family functioning by reducing risk and building protective factors.​​ 

Home visiting programs help support child and family needs during the critical first five years of a child’s life. These programs promote child health and well-being, development and school readiness, and positive caregiver-child relationships. In 2023, the National Home Visiting Resource Center reported there were more than two million pregnant Californians and families with children under age 6 who could benefit from home visiting services, including many single mothers and low-income households. These families included 2,722,900 children, of whom 15 percent were infants under age 1, and 50 percent were preschoolers between ages 3 to 5. DHCS funded wraparound services, including home visiting programs, across 34 California counties.​​ 

HOW WE GOT HERE: DHCS engaged with more than 1,000 diverse stakeholders and key implementation partners across California, including youth, families, educators, caregivers, health care providers, behavioral health experts, and community-based organizations. DHCS prioritized input from children, youth, and families, with more than 300 children and youth engaged via focus groups, surveys, and regular advisory body meetings.​​ 

Through this extensive community engagement process, DHCS selected a limited number of evidence-based and community-defined practices to expand throughout the state, including early childhood mental health and wellness services.​​ 

BIGGER PICTURE: The CYBHI is a historic investment in behavioral health that focuses on equity, centering efforts around children and youth and meeting the needs of communities that face the greatest challenges in accessing care. The multiyear, multi-billion dollar CYBHI investment is a central piece of Governor Newsom’s transformation and modernization of California’s mental health system, including the Governor’s Master Plan for Kids’ Mental Health and First Partner Siebel Newsom’s California for All Kids, which aim to make support and care more accessible and affordable for all. California is transforming its entire mental health and substance use disorder system to provide better behavioral health care for all Californians. Learn more at mentalhealth.ca.gov.​​ 

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