The CYBHI’s goals are grounded in core values that guide everything we do. As our work progresses, we engage in continuous evaluation and improvement, so we can continue to better serve California youth and families.
Equity is at the core of all of the CYBHI’s work. We seek to reimagine and transform the behavioral health ecosystem so that it centers and advances equity for children, youth and families, particularly those who face the greatest systemic barriers to wellness and are disproportionately impacted by behavioral health issues. This includes children and youth of color, LGBTQ+ youth, low-income families, those in rural communities, and children and youth from underserved communities.
To effectively support the well-being of young people, our efforts must be centered on their needs and driven by their input and voices. Doing so requires crafting strategies by, for and with youth and families, ensuring that youth and family needs, voices and perspectives are represented at every stage in the process, from design to implementation and evaluation.
Partnership among multiple sectors and with young people is essential to the successful planning and implementation of a transformed behavioral health system. The CYBHI is a collaborative initiative, developed and implemented with the input and partnership of youth, families and the systems that serve them—including education, behavioral health and government. We all share the same goal - ensuring our young people have the tools, help and services to support their well-being and address their emotional, mental, and behavioral health and substance use needs. By working together, we can build a system that is easy to navigate and where there is no wrong door for help.
Integration across sectors – government, non-profit, health, education, advocacy and others - is the foundation on which a new ecosystem must be built. It can only be achieved through a collective effort that unifies young people, families, communities and the professionals that serve them, in shared vision, shared goals, shared accountability, and shared support for the whole person, from birth through early adulthood.
Over the course of five years (2021-2026), the CYBHI seeks to:
Reimagine the ecosystem supporting youth emotional, mental, and behavioral health. Deliver services and supports that are coordinated, equitable, appropriate, timely, sustainable and accessible.
Raise the behavioral health literacy of children, youth, and families – and those who support them – using outreach and campaigns that are culturally- and linguistically- appropriate.
Break down silos between different parts of the behavioral health system that make it difficult for California’s children and youth to navigate and receive the support they need.
Support programs and services that help young people develop and maintain positive behavioral health and can intervene early when they need support.
Remove barriers to access and allow youth and families to find help when, where and in the way they need it, from prevention to treatment and recovery.
Scale programs that are innovative, effective and increase cultural competence to advance equity and meet the needs of diverse communities, so that our best approaches become the norm for all California.
Facilitate partnerships with K-12 schools, college campuses, community-based organizations and other groups that are accessible and trusted by children and youth.
Expand California’s behavioral health workforce and ensure they have the language and cultural competency to better serve our state’s diverse populations.
The CYBHI uses a systematic, programmatic, and ongoing approach to help us reflect along the way, hone our strategies and continue to center equity, youth and families. Our evaluation process, led by our partner Mathematica, will engage young people, families, partners and communities throughout.
In this brief document, you can find information on the evaluation’s components and the initiative’s 15 outcome objectives.
Understanding existing practices, siloes, and what changes are needed to transform the ecosystem.
Assessing implementation and impact of policy, including the role of CYBHI legislation.
Assessing population health and well-being outcomes and near-term indicators of progress.
Identifying strategies to accelerate implementation and provide data for continuous quality improvement.