Welcome to the CASRA Newsletter

In this issue:

• Registration for the second session of the CASRA Learning Series is now open!
• Rethinking diagnosis through Personal Narrative
• Not old enought, disabled enough, or addicted enough
• Salinas clinic brinds mental health care to Latino, Farmworker Families
• Long Beach Community College is offering classes in trauma studies
• CASRA Opens a new Newsletter Library. See below!

Enjoy!

If you have news you would like to share or a colleague you would like to spotlight because of the great work they do or just because they are a great person or both, let us know by contacting joe@casra.org.

A benefit of membership in CASRA is receiving four hours of training for your staff. For more information, please contact joe@casra.org

If you are a CASRA member agency and would like to advertise your learning opportunity, training or event for the benefit of other CASRA member agencies, please contact us at events@casra.org.
There are a few guidelines:
-You are a CASRA Member Agency
-Your event is free of charge
and, as a reminder the Newsletter is published on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of the month

A Photo Gallery now resides on the EVENTS page of the CASRA website and currently consists of albums of the 2024 Spring and the 2025 Fall CASRA Gatherings. We plan on adding more albums in the future.

If you have photos of your agency's events you would like to share with other CASRA members, contact joe@casra.org.

To view the current albums in the Photo Gallery, CLICK HERE.

CASRA has opened yet another library, this time it contains current and past Newsletters. Maybe you read an article that contained some great informatoin and you can't find it. Now you will able to access and enjoy it 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
The Newsletter LIbrary is located on the CASRA website, under the About Us tab. Or you can directly access it by CLICKING HERE.
If you would like assistance finding an edition or article that is not on the website, you can contact the librarian, Joe Ruiz at joe@casra.org

The  CASRA Learning Library and its contents are free to CASRA member organizations and their staff. The Library is located in the Member Portal on the CASRA website here. More detailed instructions on how to access and use the Library can also be found on the CASRA website when logged on the Portal.

Our hope is that the Library's offerings will provide learning opportunities that will serve as part of CASRA agencies' onboarding processes for new staff, as well as be a resource of Recovery oriented values and practices for all staff. 

Access to the Learning Library is currently limited to CASRA member agencies and their staff. We hope to expand availability in the future.

For questions and more information contact Joe Ruiz - joe@casra.org.

Our member agencies are continually looking for new employees or volunteers to join their workforce.

To see current openings and find out additional information about CASRA Member Agencies, please click below.

CASRA facilitates a number of support groups for people working at CASRA member agencies. The support groups provide people working in similar roles opportunities to share experiences, information, and challenges. They meet monthly for approximantely one hour. for more information contact the person listed for each group.

Social Rehabilitation Facilities (SRF)
Meets: First Tuesday of the month at 1 PM

Human Resources
Meets: First Thursday of the month at 11 AM

Employment/Vocational Rehabilitation Services
Meets: First Thursday of the month at 3 PM

For information regarding any of the above groups contact:
Chad Costello, chad@casra.org

Wellness Services (Well Talk)
The Wellness Services support group is now online. For more info contact Joe Ruiz, joe@casra.org

CASRA is a statewide organization of private, not-for-profit, public benefit corporations that serve clients of the California public mental health system.

Member agencies provide a variety of services that are designed to enhance the quality of life and community participation of youth, adults and older adults living with challenging mental health issues. Read more

The California Association of Social Rehabilitation Agencies

Mailing Address:
3350 E. 7th Street, #509
Long Beach, CA 90804

Email: casra@casra.org

Phone: (562) 343-2621

To reach us: use our Contact Form

Registration is Open!

Wednesday, November 4, 2026

10:00 AM to 12:00 PM (PDT)

The Values, Principles, and Practices
of Recovery and Psychiatric Rehabilitation

For More Information and to Register
CLICK HERE

Beyond “What’s Wrong With You?”: Rethinking Psychiatric Diagnosis Through Personal Narrative

The Personal Narrative Model Puts Lived Experience, Meaning, Power, Social Context, and Strengths at the Center of Mental Health, but Can a Fundamentally Different Approach Survive Within Today’s Mental Health System?

From Mad in America
By Richard Sears, October 5, 2026

As the biomedical model of psychiatry is increasingly criticized for its narrow focus and lack of acknowledging the social and systemic causes of psychological suffering, clinicians, academics, and service users have developed new person-centered alternatives that move beyond diagnosis and the disease model of psychological distress. A new UK based study published in PLOS Mental Health details the development of the Personal Narrative Model (PNM), an alternative to biomedical diagnostic approaches developed with lived experience experts that emphasizes past experiences, systemic and political factors, patient and service user meaning-making around their distress, strengths, and available resources. This research, led by Aneita Pringle from Anglia Ruskin University in the UK, finds that while patients and mental health staff generally liked the PNM, there are significant barriers to implementing this model into current mental healthcare systems. The authors write:

“The PNM, one of the few known formulation models to incorporate service users in its development phase, was acceptable to participants and provided practical utility in helping them structure and understand service users’ experiences. It also supported meaning-making around service users’ experiences and enhanced the perceived coherence of the care model. Overall, the PNM was viewed favourably by participants … interestingly at the time of the focus group no participants indicated they had adopted the PNM in their practice … This may reflect an important implementation gap; several such implementation barriers were identified, including concerns about discussing past experiences and staff resistance to adopting new practices.” Read More

Not Old Enough, Not Disabled Enough, Not Addicted Enough

A Portland State Study Finds Homeless People Are Turned Away from Help for Failing to Fit the Right Category

From Invisible People
By Jocelyn Figueroa, October 9, 2026

Nearly everyone living without housing in Multnomah County wants a permanent home. The hard part is finding the way in.

That is the central finding of the Pathways study, a two-part project from Portland State University’s Homelessness Research and Action Collaborative. Researchers surveyed 541 people with current or recent experience of homelessness, and 98% of those asked said they want permanent, stable housing. In 29 in-depth interviews, they heard the same story again and again: phone calls that go in circles, wait lists that stretch up to 10 years, and programs that turn people away for not being old enough, disabled enough, or addicted enough to qualify.

“I guess I have to relapse if I’m going to get any help,” one participant told researchers.

“This is about more than just collecting data — it’s about giving a voice to people whose experiences are often overlooked, misunderstood, or spoken about instead of listened to,” the Transformational Research for Equity and Experience in Shelter (TREES) committee, a group of people with lived experience of homelessness who guided the study, said in a statement. “It’s important to give those who are experiencing homelessness the opportunity to be a part of the conversations that shape the systems meant to support them.” Read More

Salinas Clinic Brings Mental Health Care To Latino, Farmworker Families 

Alas Brings Culturally Responsive are, Wrapaound Services to Region

From The Californian
By Roseann Cattani, October 2, 2026

Amid vibrant artwork and colorful cultural touches, a new mental health clinic focused on Latino and farmworker families has opened in Salinas.

The ALAS (Ayudando Latinos a Soñar) clinic at 947 Blanco Circle, Suite B was celebrated with a ribbon cutting ceremony on Sept. 30 and a welcoming proclamation from Monterey County Supervisor Luis Alejo.

ALAS is expanding from Half Moon Bay where practitioners developed their approach through years of work with farmworker communities during COVID-19, wildfires, flooding and the 2023 mass shooting at two plant nurseries in Half Moon Bay. Read More

LBCC Wants To Teach Its Students To Help Heal Trauma. Its New Program Is Already in Demand

LBCC Is Offering One of the Country’s First Undergraduate Degrees in Trauma Studies, Hoping To Build the Next Generation of Trauma-Informed Workers.

From The LA Local- Long Beach Post
By Kate Raphael, October 4, 2026

In the year and a half since Long Beach City College began offering courses in trauma studies, enrollment has exploded, more than doubling from 68 students in spring 2025 to 180 students this fall.

LBCC psychology professor Kyran Barr, who has led the effort to bring trauma studies to the college, was initially surprised by the level of interest, but it reflected a comment he said he heard across campus: “This is much needed.”

Now, Barr is helping the college take the work further. This fall, LBCC launched one of the country’s first undergraduate degrees in trauma studies, a way to educate students on what trauma is — “an event or a series of events that overwhelms a person’s capacity to cope,” Barr said — and build the next generation of workers in mental health fields and beyond. The effort to bring a trauma-informed lens to the campus hasn’t stopped there. The college is now training faculty and staff with the goal of giving everyone the tools to see trauma, address it and understand how it affects individuals and societies. Read More

If you or someone you know is considering suicide or self-harm, there are resources available to provide free and confidential support. Call 988 or the The Trevor Project at 1-866-488-7386 for LGBTQ young people.

Project Return Peer Support Network (PRPSN) Provides certified WRAP training

CASRA member agency Project Return Peer Support Network (PRPSN) is now a licensed Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP). PRPSN's Training Institute is now a leading provider of WRAP Seminars across the West Coast, helping individuals and organizations build wellness tools that foster hope, personal responsibility, and empowerment.

 For more information or to schedule a WRAP Seminar, please contact PRPSN's Training Coordinator, Gustavo Limas at glimas@prpsn.org.

Election Day is November 3d

Thinking isn't agreeing or disagreeing. That's voting.
Robert Frost