Reflections on Just Some of Our Work This Year
As we look back on 2024, it's clear that this year will be remembered for its highs and lows, profound global shifts, and a pervasive sense of uncertainty. Amidst these challenges is a strong undercurrent of hope and opportunity in the realm of mental healthcare. At the LSP Family Foundation (LSPFF), we honed our efforts to drive meaningful, systemic change in the mental healthcare system with focused support of public policy advocacy and unique partnership models to advancing policy change.
Supporting Statewide Policy Work
The Steinberg Institute, founded by Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg and led by Karen Larsen, has made tremendous strides in securing billions of dollars to support the mental health needs of Californians. The Institute is addressing not only the urgent need for mental healthcare but also systemic issues such as housing for, and the incarceration of, individuals living with mental illness, we well as discrimination by insurance companies that fail to cover necessary services. Their work is crucial to improving access to care and ensuring mental health is prioritized in policy discussions.
We are also thrilled to support Children Now, California's only whole-child public policy advocacy organization. Under the leadership of Ted Lempert, President, and Lishaun Francis, Senior Director for Behavioral Health, Children Now is instrumental in advancing legislation to ensure California's children – particularly among the most vulnerable children - have access to the mental health services they need.
Perhaps one of the most inspiring partnerships has been with The California Children's Trust, which made unprecedented strides in improving mental and behavioral healthcare for California’s low-income children. Founded by Alex Briscoe, the Trust set out with a bold mission: to reform Medi-Cal in five years. Alex and his team delivered on their promise. Their work has led to significant changes in the way the state reimburses providers for family and dyadic care—innovative, evidence-based therapies that treat both children and their caregivers together. They successfully advocated for mental health disorder diagnoses to be removed as a prerequisite for care, expanded peer support in school settings, and expanded the classifications of care providers. The CCT delivered tangible outcomes, setting a powerful precedent for systemic change. As promised, they did it in record time and are now - as planned - sunsetting. We salute Alex as he transitions to his next chapter with the Public Works Alliance, where he will continue his mission of improving the lives of young people.
National Advocacy for Mental Health Parity
LSPFF has committed to aiding in the efforts to reforming the mental healthcare system on the national stage with our support of The Kennedy Forum. Founded by former Congressman Patrick Kennedy, it works to strengthen and enforce parity laws—legislation that ensures mental health is treated equally to physical health by insurance providers. Under the leadership of CEO Rebecca Bagley, The Kennedy Forum utilizes a coalition approach, uniquely bringing together insurance payors, healthcare providers, government, advocates and experts to create teeth and accountability to parity laws. LSPFF is proud to support their ongoing efforts, which are essential to the equitable delivery of care across the nation.
Looking Ahead: Emerging Trends & Initiatives in the New Year
We at LSPFF are excited about the opportunities in 2025 to build on these important systems-change efforts. Some key areas we will be focusing on in the coming year include:
Philanthropy Spurred Innovation in Mental Health: We’re exploring ways to use philanthropic dollars to catalyze corporate innovations in the mental health space, where there are significantly scalable models to increase access to care.
Addressing the Clinician Shortage: With an ever-growing demand for mental health services, the shortage of qualified clinicians is critical. LSPFF will be supporting innovative solutions to drive broad-scale interest and clinical training in mental health careers.
Broadening Family-Centered Mental Health Services: Mental health care is most effective when it involves the whole family. We are committed to seeding broad-scale family-centered mental health services, ensuring that families receive the support they need to navigate and heal from mental health challenges together.
LSPFF is proud to have contributed to meaningful efforts that are reshaping mental healthcare at both the state and national levels. With continued collaboration, investment in advocacy, and a steadfast commitment to systemic change, we are eager to see these efforts bear fruit for years to come. Stay tuned for more updates in our work to ensure that mental health is no longer a crisis, but a priority.