Welcome to the CASRA Newsletter

In this issue:

The spotlight is back on and it shines brightly on Diana White, President and Chief Executive Officer for CASRA member agency, Turning Point Community Programs.

1. What is your day job?
I wear many hats in my role, among them: firefighter, butterfly wrangler, diplomat, instigator, and explorer. From a broader perspective, my primary responsibility is to remain informed about the behavioral health landscape at the local, state, and federal levels, and to ensure our organization has the infrastructure to adapt to evolving needs, challenges, and opportunities.  

2. What do you enjoy about your work?
I get to work with some incredible people. I need humor in my day, and I’m lucky to have colleagues I can share a good laugh with. I’m a big-picture thinker, and I find great fulfillment in identifying where we need to go and helping chart that course. The details aren’t my strength, so I surround myself with people who are much better at that. I also love learning—and this job provides endless opportunities to learn across many domains.

3. What challenges you about the work?
My biggest challenge is often internal—how I interpret and respond to what’s happening around me. Whether circumstances feel discouraging or promising, my perspective is what ultimately determines their effect on me. There are always going to be obstacles but becoming discouraged or overly negative doesn’t improve the situation. I frequently ask myself: Is my ego interfering? Am I focusing only on the problems and ignoring the successes? Am I trusting myself, or am I allowing doubt to take over? While external conditions may change, my mindset plays a pivotal role in how I navigate those changes.

4. What is one thing you would like to see CASRA accomplish over the next year?
Advocating for a nonprofit exemption to PAGA would be an outstanding accomplishment, although I recognize it may be ambitious. If other nonprofit advocacy organizations are pursuing such efforts, I hope CASRA will lend its support. On a more achievable note, I would love to see another in-person conference (I regret missing the last one). Continued support for workgroups focused on the transition to value-based care would be extremely beneficial in helping agencies lay the groundwork for future success. It’s also encouraging to see more training opportunities becoming available—I hope these continue and expand in the coming year.

5. Do you share your food?
Context matters here. I’m the oldest of five kids, and we were like a pack of ravenous wolves guarding our food bowls at the dinner table. So... I’m not naturally inclined to share food. That said, I’ll always share what I have with someone in need. But if I’m choosing between a restaurant where everyone gets their own plate and one where you share everything—I’ll pick the former every time. The latter just makes me anxious. Silly but true.

Also in this edition:

-CASRA 2025 Fall Gathering Call for Presenters
-The CASRA Learning Library is now open!
-SF has an opportunity to revamp its mental health care system
-A federal report says that the effectiveness of forced treatment is inconclusive
-New research calls for rethinking Open Dialogue practices by placing peer praactioners at the center of the work

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.

We are excited to announce that the CASRA Learning Library is now operational!

The 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.

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

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

The 2025 CASRA Fall Gathering will be held on Wednesday, September 10th at Preservation Park in Oakland.

Our theme is United in Humanity and Hope, with the day focused on building resilience, fostering hope and strengthening empowerment.

We are looking for people to share their insights, perspectives and experiences. We want those who through their work, have been able to keep the flame of community, hope and recovery alive while helping others build their own flames.

If you want more information and instructions on submitting a concept paper Click Here.

SF Has a Chance to Reinvent Its Mental Health Care System

California Is Requiring Counties To Seek Community Input as They Revamp Their Behavioral Health Programs To Align With New Mandates Approved by Voters

From sfpublicpress.org
By Noah Arroyo, June 11, 2025

When Chuan Teng looks at San Francisco’s approach to behavioral health care, she sees a fundamental flaw.

“Jail, the streets, psychiatric emergency services — these end up being the points of entry into the city’s mental health care treatment,” said Teng, a private consultant who until recently was the chief executive officer of PRC, formerly called Positive Resource Center, a local provider of mental health care and other social services.

She called it “mind shattering” that often, because that system of care can be difficult to access, people with addiction and mental health disorders might get help only after they’ve deteriorated. By then, their conditions could have cost them jobs or housing, or caused them to land in the criminal justice system.

“Why is it that people can’t just go out and find care, if they need it?” Teng said.

She and a cadre of San Francisco-based service providers see an opportunity to help that happen. Read More

Court-Ordered Treatment for Serious Mental Illness Is ‘Inconclusive,’ Says Federal Report

There’s Scant Evidence in Federal Assessments To Show That Involuntary Mental Health Treatment Works

From statnews.com
By O.Rose Broderick, July 2025

In the last decade, the federal government has provided $146 million to organizations that provide outpatient care to people with serious mental health conditions like psychosis. The people were ordered to undergo treatment so they wouldn’t be a threat to themselves or society.

Did it work?

Depends on who you ask. The Department of Health and Human Services and its subagencies — which issue and manage these grants — have looked at the effectiveness over the years and have generally found favorable outcomes. One federal evaluation, for instance, found that people who participated in the programs had a reduced likelihood of violent behavior, homelessness, and drug use, among other outcomes.

But a new Government Accountability Office report suggests those earlier conclusions are not reliable because of methodological flaws in how those assessments were made. Read More

Improving Mental Health Care by Centering Peers in Open Dialogue

A New Study Calls for Rethinking Open Dialogue Practices by Placing Peer Practitioners at the Heart of Therapeutic Work

From madinamerica.com
By Kelly McFadden, July 9, 2025

New research published in Frontiers in Psychology highlights the critical role of peer support specialists in successfully implementing dialogical-based mental health care.

Originating in Finland, Open Dialogue has shown long-term success in reducing hospitalization, medication use, and chronicity in psychiatric care. The authors argue that meaningful implementation requires peer involvement from the outset and offers a practical framework that centers lived experience as vital to therapeutic engagement, systemic change, and sustainable practice.
At the heart of this approach is a commitment to dialogue as a relational stance that invites openness, uncertainty, and mutual transformation. As Intentional Peer Support founder Shery Mead puts it:

“In real dialogue, we are able to step back from our truth and be very deeply open to the truth of the other person while also holding onto our own. When this type of dialogue occurs, both of us have the potential to see, hear and know things in ways that neither of us could have come to alone.” Read More

California To Provide LGBTQ Suicide Prevention Hotline After Trump Administration Axes It

From sacbee.com
By Molly Gibbs, The Mercury News, July 16, 2025

California will partner with the Trevor Project to provide suicide prevention support to LGBTQ+ youth, state officials announced Wednesday. The announcement comes weeks after the Trump administration said it will no longer provide national suicide and crisis hotline services to LGBTQ+ youth.

"While the Trump administration continues its attacks on LGBTQ kids, California has a message to the gay community: we see you and we're here for you," Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement. "We're proud to work with the Trevor Project to ensure that every person in our state can get the support they need to live a happy, healthy life."

LGBTQ+ youth are particularly vulnerable to suicide risk because of how they are mistreated and stigmatized in society, said the California-based Trevor Project, a leading LGBTQ+ advocacy group. 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 Teen Line at 1-800-TLC-TEEN or The Trevor Project at 1-866-488-7386 for LGBTQ young people.

“Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always”

Robin Williams
July 21, 1951 to August 11, 2014