Community Health Center Network (CHCN) partnered with two of its standing health centers, LifeLong Medical Care and Axis Community Health, to participate in the Delta Center California Learning Laboratory. Over the course of two years, this team of behavioral health leadership, providers, and program management staff worked to assess and better understand racial, ethnic and language disparities in behavioral health screening, referral, and engagement at Axis and LifeLong; create more effective services across racial and ethnic groups; and enhance their behavioral health registry that includes a data dashboard. This brief outlines their approach, process, and key takeaways from this work.
This brief examines the potential for texting as a distinct telehealth modality in California amidst the state's behavioral health needs and challenges. The brief describes uses of texting in behavioral health, outlines key activity in other states, provides an overview of relevant research, and recommends next steps to advance texting for behavioral health.
Peer support specialists (PSS) play vital roles in mental health support and recovery. This brief presents the results of a survey examining the experiences, career pathways, and organizational challenges and supports encountered by PSS in California and provides recommendations for how legislators and organizational leaders can enhance their support to PSS. Further research is needed to explore solutions to the needs elevated in this brief
Many hospital systems grapple with their role in combating the history of racism to promote equity. This new informational brief begins with a background on the impact of structural racism on patients, providers, and the community and a description of a workstream to combat structural racism for America’s Essential Hospitals and its members. It concludes with a description of twelve activities hospitals already perform to combat racism and three actions similar associations are undertaking.