CASRA Staff

Chad Costello, MSW, CPRP
Executive Director
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Chad Costello, MSW, CPRP

Chad has more than twenty-five years of service in the non-profit sector of California’s Public Behavioral Health System. In addition to many years of working in legislative and administrative advocacy, Chad has experience ranging from direct practice, team supervision and program development, to curriculum design, training and teaching. Chad became CASRA’s Executive Director in August of 2021.

Chad began working directly for CASRA in January 2021 as its Public Policy Director, after almost 20 years of work for Mental Health America of Los Angeles, first as a Director of a care coordination team at its renowned Village ISA in Long Beach. This was followed with positions as the organization’s Public Policy Director and most recently as the Vice President of Policy. Prior to MHALA, Chad served as the Director of Programs for MHA Orange County overseeing a range of programs serving individuals experiencing homelessness.

He has extensive experience in both in-person and virtual training and has presented at the local and national level on topics including advocacy skills, crisis intervention, and practice in psychiatric rehabilitation (PSR). He has held a Certified Psychiatric Rehabilitation Practitioner (CPRP) certification since 2001 and is a certified MORS trainer and Mental Health First Aid Instructor. He has taught at the A.A., B.A. and graduate levels for many years, and currently instructs in PSR in the Cerritos College Mental Health Worker Program, and in policy practice and community development in the School of Social Work at California State University, Long Beach.

Chad received his MSW, with a specialization in Community Organization, Planning and Administration from the University of Southern California and his B.A. in Social Ecology from the University of California, Irvine. Chad has an adult daughter and counts skiing, backpacking, climbing and photography as his passions.