Weekly Wrap-Up
January 21, 2022
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Conservatorships Keep the Homeless in
Psychiatric Wards Too Long: Study

New research conducted in California warns that once a conservatorship is set up, there's a very real risk that a homeless individual will end up stuck in a psychiatric hospital for weeks or months — far exceeding what's needed and much longer than inpatient care provided to patients who aren't homeless.

Blue Shield of California Expands Mental Health Support With Addition of Ginger on Wellvolution Platform

Blue Shield of California today announced that its health plan members who are enrolled in the Wellvolution program now have access to Ginger’s on-demand, personalized mental health support that can be accessed on their smartphone.

Ginger is an on-demand mental health platform that can help individuals manage anxiety, depression, sleep problems, and other mental-health challenges.

California Forcibly Sterilized People for 70 Years. Survivors Can Now Get Compensation

For 70 years, forced sterilizations were routinely performed in California’s state-run hospitals, homes and institutions on tens of thousands of individuals like Franco, who were deemed “feeble-minded,” “sexually deviant” or “undesirable.” The state’s 1909 eugenics law and subsequent sterilizations — which were based on the idea that selective breeding would lead to a stronger society — disproportionately targeted people of color and those with disabilities or mental illness. Proponents claimed the procedure was necessary to improve the outcome of the human race. But for many victims and their families, the trauma stemming from the practice continues to be felt across generations.

California Launches Medicaid Innovation with New MCO and Technology Requirements

Medi-Cal, California's Medicaid program, is on a five-year path to innovating what it can offer and how, who will be involved, and what it will expect of its managed care plans. In December 2021, CMS approved the state's CalAIM proposal to make Medi-Cal "integrate more seamlessly with other social services … especially for those with the most complex needs."

EVENTS
Critical Conversations: Offering Transgender Equitable Care
- A Virtual Learning -

Thursday, February 17, 2022
10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m Pacific Time

This training will focus on gender-affirming care through an intersectional behavioral health equity lens that centers Black, Trans, and Queer identities. It will focus on 1) how to break down barriers and build trust with Black, Trans, and Queer individuals and 2) build participant knowledge about provision of trans competent care as well as strategies and action steps for provision of this care.

Webinar: Introductory/Refresher Virtual Youth
SBIRT Training

Tuesday, January 25, 2022
1:00 p.m. Eastern Time
10:00 a.m. Pacific Time

We are pleased to offer a new virtual opportunity for training in YSBIRT! If you are an administrator or clinician who is new to Youth SBIRT or looking for a refresher, this three-hour training is just for you.

Participants will learn:

How SBIRT fits in the context of providing integrated and trauma informed systems of care.

The use of evidence-based adolescent screening tools to identify levels of risk.

The role of brief interventions to increase engagement, elicit behavior change and reduce counterproductive discussions.

Referral to treatment best practices for facilitating access to specialized services for youth at higher risk.

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