{"id":625120,"date":"2026-05-05T16:21:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T16:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/625120\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T16:21:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T16:21:08","slug":"california-budget-threatens-funding-for-mental-health-crisis-teams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/625120\/","title":{"rendered":"California budget threatens funding for mental health crisis teams"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Ana B. Ibarra<\/a>, CalMatters<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\""Two\"
\n\t\t\t\tFrom left, peer support specialist Katerina Cabello and clinician James Gonzalez before heading to respond to a crisis call on April 27, 2026. The pair form part of Sycamores\u2019 mobile crisis outreach team. Photo by Jules Hotz for CatchLight\/CalMatters<\/p>\n

This story was originally published by CalMatters<\/a>. Sign up<\/a> for their newsletters.<\/p>\n

On an early spring evening in Glendale, a 37-year-old woman is withdrawn and weak from refusing food and water for several days. Her mother calls for help. She tells a crisis counselor her daughter has been hearing voices, and has expressed needing to \u201ckill\u201d those voices. She will not go to a doctor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when James Gonzalez and Katerina Cabello pull up. They\u2019re in casual clothes \u2013 khakis and jeans, paired with sweatshirts. They sound no sirens in an unmarked white minivan.<\/p>\n

Gonzalez and Cabello are one of 75 mobile crisis response teams<\/a> Los Angeles County runs around the clock. Licensed and trained as first responders for behavioral health crises, these teams of two respond \u2013 in person, with backpacks and clipboards \u2013 to calls from 988, the crisis lifeline, or the county\u2019s mental health helpline. Gonzalez and Cabello work for Sycamores, a nonprofit agency that contracts with the county.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Across California, demand for these teams \u2013 an alternative to badges and sirens for people in their darkest moments \u2013 is surging. But just as they\u2019re proving their worth, federal funding that supercharged their growth is set to end. Lacking that boost, Gov. Gavin Newsom\u2019s budget blueprint<\/a> proposes changing the service from a required benefit to an optional one, meaning the state does not have to cover the funding gap.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Counties that choose to keep this service will have to pay for it themselves at a price tag of $150 million to $200 million a year. Where counties cannot afford it, crisis teams could decrease or disappear entirely, if the Legislature approves the governor\u2019s budget proposal.<\/p>\n

A boost in mobile crisis services<\/p>\n

Convincing a person in crisis to accept help is a skill. You have minutes, sometimes less, to earn trust.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When Gonzalez walks into the living room of a client in crisis, he\u2019ll quickly scan the room, looking for family photos, religious artifacts, trophies, anything that can help him connect. He has seen people in various stages of vulnerability: a woman who feels the world on her shoulders after leaving an abusive relationship; a teenage boy feeling so much anger he attacks his father.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Knowing when to be gentle and when to be stern is a skill, too. After more than an hour in Glendale, Gonzalez and Cabello got their client to drink some water and convinced her to go to a nearby hospital for IV fluids \u2013 once there she finally agreed to a psychiatric evaluation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMental health can be kind of cruel,\u201d Gonzalez said. \u201cI’ve dealt with it as a parent.\u00a0 I don’t want our consumers to feel that. I want them to feel like we actually did something for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two days later, he and Cabello followed up on the Glendale call. The adult daughter did not meet the criteria to be placed on a psychiatric hold, but after the team shared treatment options and resources, the mother reported that she was eating and doing better.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\""Two\"From left, peer support specialist Katerina Cabello and clinician James Gonzalez with Sycamores\u2019 mobile crisis outreach team in Altadena on April 27, 2026. Photo by Jules Hotz for CatchLight\/CalMatters<\/p>\n

When in-person help is necessary, teams meet people where they are \u2013 homes, schools, and workplaces \u2013 and serve everyone regardless of income or insurance status. Though the program started as a Medi-Cal benefit for low-income residents, teams also respond to the uninsured and those with private insurance \u2013 counties can bill private insurers for behavioral health emergencies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2023, California made mobile crisis response a statewide benefit when a federal law offered a financial incentive to do so: the federal government would temporarily cover 85% of the costs, up from the usual 50%. At the time, people with mental health and substance use disorder made up one-fifth of all emergency department visits<\/a> in California \u2013 a pressure point the state said mobile behavioral health teams could help address.<\/p>\n

Mental health advocates and counties knew the extra federal money was temporary. What caught them off guard is what came next: Rather than cover the gap when the enhanced rate fell, the state plans to make the service optional, funding it only through March 2027 before shifting the burden to counties. \u201cIt did come as a surprise to us that this program was on the chopping block given kind of unanimous support,\u201d said Tara Gamboa-Eastman, director of Government Affairs at the Steinberg Institute.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\""Two\"<\/p>\n

\""View\"
\nFirst: From left, Katerina Cabello and James Gonzalez review the details of a call from the Los Angeles County dispatch in Altadena on April 27, 2026. The pair review the information, begin paperwork and confirm whether a crisis response is needed. Last: Gonzalez and Cabello drive towards the location of a crisis call in the Los Angeles area on April 27, 2026. This particular call is approximately a 30-minute drive, but the team can get sent anywhere in the Los Angeles County area. Photos by Jules Hotz for CatchLight\/CalMatters<\/p>\n

State officials say the timing is unavoidable. The expiration of the enhanced federal match coincides with a projected state budget shortfall of nearly $3 billion for the upcoming fiscal year, and $22 billion the following year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Administration has proposed redesigning this as an optional benefit, to be offered at counties\u2019 discretion, as the most sustainable path for the program going forward,\u201d said H.D. Palmer, spokesman for the California Department of Finance.<\/p>\n

State lawmakers who support preserving this service challenged the department in a recent hearing. \u201cWe’ve invested so much money into creating and uplifting an infrastructure to not fully continue with it,\u201d Sen. Caroline Menjivar, a San Fernando Democrat said. \u201cIs that a waste of our money?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Counties weighing options<\/p>\n

In San Joaquin County, when a young woman was in mental distress because she couldn\u2019t afford her rent, the local crisis team visited her multiple times to stabilize her. They also helped her find affordable housing. \u201cNo other team can be as persistent as a mobile crisis team,\u201d said Fay Vieira, San Joaquin County\u2019s behavioral health services director.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The funding changes could force San Joaquin to revert to fewer teams available only from 8 a.m to 5 p.m. Her biggest concern is losing credibility with a community the county has spent the last two years courting.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe made vehicle purchases and put money into advertising,\u201d Vieira said. \u201cYou can tell from our referral numbers that people are using this.\u201d Crisis calls in the county have increased 15% this year compared to last, she said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Monterey County, the story is similar. The county started limited mobile crisis services in 2015 but struggled to grow them until the federal boost. \u201cWe had been trying to look at expanding for years because we saw the value,\u201d said Melanie Rhodes, the county\u2019s behavioral health director. \u201cWe saw the people we were helping.\u201d Without continued funding, she said, the county could be forced to scale back.<\/p>\n

Rural San Benito County rolled out its mobile crisis program just last year<\/a> \u2013 it took officials there months to find an outside provider who could come in and offer the service. The program there is just starting to gain steam.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that we cannot afford it without the federal dollars,\u201d said Rachel White, San Benito County\u2019s behavioral health director.<\/p>\n

The pressure is hitting counties that are already absorbing other rising healthcare costs. Starting in July, counties will have to direct a third of their mental health budget toward housing chronically homeless people. In the coming year, they will also have to restart health programs for people who will lose their Medi-Cal coverage<\/a> under rules related to the federal spending law President Trump signed in 2025.<\/p>\n

Even for the state\u2019s biggest county this is a pinch. Since the state mandate took effect just over two years ago, Los Angeles County has doubled its mobile crisis teams.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Officials at the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health said they do not know yet if they\u2019ll have to make cuts, but having to absorb the additional costs will stifle their plans to expand and better meet demand.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s definitely going to hurt,\u201d said Reuben Wilson, head of alternative crisis response at Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health. \u201cWe’ve been trying to reduce our response time so we can get there quicker; law enforcement becomes more and more reliant on us. We’re really in a growth period, and it seems really premature to be pulling the support.\u201d<\/p>\n

A promising alternative for help<\/p>\n

National research has shown that behavioral health professionals responding without police \u2013 like county crisis teams \u2013 do a better job than law enforcement of keeping people out of emergency rooms and connecting them to mental health care.<\/p>\n

\u201cInvolving clinical teams in the community can prevent expensive emergency department care and get people connected to mental healthcare after the crisis incident is resolved,\u201d one small-scale study<\/a> of crisis response teams in Michigan found. A separate California analysis<\/a> found that alternative crisis response programs reduced the number of unnecessary psychiatric holds.<\/p>\n

\"""\/\"\/A bulletin board with staff photos hangs in the office of Sycamores\u2019 mobile crisis outreach team in Altadena on April 27, 2026. Photo by Jules Hotz for CatchLight\/CalMatters<\/p>\n

California\u2019s own data is incomplete. Since January 2024 the Department of Health Care Services has approved more than 73,000 claims for in-person mobile crisis encounters through Medi-Cal alone \u2013 and because of typical claims lag, actual use is likely higher. Counties collect volume and some demographics data, but no statewide analysis of outcomes exists. That won’t be possible until the state begins collecting results data, something expected to start later this year.<\/p>\n

As counties await the Governor\u2019s final budget, the calls keep coming in.<\/p>\n

Gonzalez and Cabello had not heard of the proposed funding change. They\u2019re not sure what it would mean for Sycamores, or teams like theirs. What they do know is that people are hurting.<\/p>\n

At one recent call, Gonzalez and Cabello found a dad and uncle restraining a 19-year-old man who had been experiencing outbursts of rage. Police responded first, but couldn\u2019t resolve it. The situation called for help like Gonzalez and Cabello. They talked the young man down.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDad called and thanked us,\u201d Gonzalez said. \u201cHe said no one has been able to help him like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Supported by the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), which works to ensure that people have access to the care they need, when they need it, at a price they can afford. Visit www.chcf.org to learn more.<\/p>\n

This article was originally published on CalMatters<\/a> and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives<\/a> license.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Ana B. Ibarra, CalMatters From left, peer support specialist Katerina Cabello and clinician James Gonzalez before heading…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":625121,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[65376,97,252,253,259],"class_list":["post-625120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-california-budget","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare","tag-mental-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625120\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}