The Reality of Mental Health Services in California

By Daisy Oram

The mental health services in California are seriously lacking. 

Children in schools do not have the resources they need to maintain their mental health. Teachers are under trained and there is a lack of counseling services in schools. Students are LUCKY if they even have a mental health counselor on their campus each day. 

My first experience with this system was through Kaiser. Kaiser is a privatized health institution that has faulted their patients in many areas but more than ever in their mental health services. To start, getting a regular therapist through Kaiser is nearly impossible. They have so few mental health professionals that you are LUCKY if you get to see a therapist ONCE a month. Anyone who needs mental health services KNOWS that talking to a therapist once a month does NOTHING. If you have any further needs, you are required to go to the emergency room. And once you are there, the only thing they can do for you is hold you. They will only get you further help if you explicitly state that you are ready to end your life. Why do you have to get to that point before anyone listens? The message that Kaiser sends to their patients is “We don’t care about you but we also don’t want a death on our hands.” 

While I could go on and on about Kaiser and my experiences with them, they are not the only ones who are failing to support our mental health needs. We must change the system not only privately but also in our public schools. Mental health matters!