Welcome to the CASRA Newsletter

In this issue:

-We get to shine the spotlight on the new President of the CASRA Executive Committee, Genelle Cazares, LCSW from El Hogar Community Services, Inc. in Sacramento.

What is your day job?
CEO of El Hogar Community Services. I’ve been with El Hogar for 10 years-a CBO -serving people experiencing Serious Mental Illness. And it’s also my evening and weekend job if needed.

What do you like most about your work?
I love the opportunity to be innovative, creating and reshaping how we serve -with the understanding that with each individual comes unique qualities. One of the best parts is watching our staff work with clients with so much dignity and respect, and seeing clients feel empowered. It’s genuinely a joy — and a gift to witness every day.

What challenges you about the work?
Understanding what is required versus what the truly needed, and finding a way to successfully navigate both.

What is one thing you would like CASRA to accomplish over the next year?
Keep doing what CASRA does best: providing information and support. The policy updates, especially in today’s climate, are incredibly helpful, and I really appreciate it.

Do you share your food?
Yes, I readily share my food- but reach for my Jacks Urban Eats fries without asking may be a problem 😊

- The street medic who is a hero

- Two critical outpatient programs set to close in Alameda County

- Mental Health coalition protest ICE raids

- New documentary offers hope

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.

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

This Street Medic Is a Hero to L.A.’s Homeless

From latimes.com
By James Rainey, February 26, 2026

Starting out as a young medical practitioner, Brett Feldman sometimes walked for miles to treat homeless people living in the wooded outskirts of Allentown, Penn. Feldman was determined to treat those in need, wherever the path led.

“I never had to walk by somebody before that I couldn’t help. And that took a lot to get used to,” said Feldman, a short man with the muscles of a body builder and the dreamy affect of a poet. “That’s why we focus on the one-on-one, instead of trying to count big, big numbers. Eventually, we hope the ones add up to something bigger.”

On a recent morning, Feldman and his colleagues made their rounds, visiting people living in ragamuffin tents on sidewalks and crannies just west of downtown. Feldman, medical resident Israel Garcia and community health worker Raymond Luna patched up wounds, tested blood pressure, administered shots and handed out medications.

And they listened. Read More

Two Critical Outpatient Mental Illness Treatment Programs Set To Close in Alameda County

From sfchronicle.com
By Kimberley Sevcik, February 24, 2026

On March 9, in an attempt to balance its budget, Alameda Health System plans to shutter two of the only intensive outpatient treatment programs in the county available to indigent people with serious mental illness.

If the system takes this step, it will dramatically worsen a public health crisis for Alameda County.

The intensive outpatient programs at Highland Hospital in Oakland and Fairmont Hospital in San Leandro serve a vital need in our community. They ensure that people with chronic mental health conditions who require consistent treatment receive the necessary support they need to maintain stability. Access to consistent treatment greatly reduces their likelihood of inpatient hospitalization, homelessness and incarceration. Read More

Mental Health Coalition Protests ICE Raids and Detention

From mindsitenews.org
By Courtney Wise, February 12, 2026

Many leading mental health and public health organizations have issued statements condemning ICE raids, detention centers and deportations and decrying the trauma they are inflicting on families, children and residents of affected communities. In an email interview with MindSite News, Eric Rafla-Yuan, psychiatrist and chair of the leadership team of the Committee to Protect Public Mental Health, spoke to the direct impact health care providers have already seen as a result of the surge in ICE activity, particularly as it relates to mental wellbeing.

In what ways have you seen ICE enforcement actions already impact public mental health in clinics and hospitals?
We know that immigration enforcement activity in (or even near) health care settings drives avoidance of care. That deterrent effect is itself a public mental health harm: it increases fear, hypervigilance, sleep disruption, and trauma-related symptoms, and it destabilizes people who already have anxiety disorders, PTSD, depression, serious mental illness, or substance use disorders. Additionally, when individuals delay care until conditions worsen, clinical presentations become more acute and crises are more frequent and harder to manage.
The impact extends far beyond only undocumented patients. Aggressive (and at times violent) enforcement of immigration related issues, which are actually civil misdemeanors (not criminal issues) cause entire communities to interpret these environments as unsafe. This amplifies our collective stress, mistrust, and isolation as a nation – all factors that predictably worsen mental health outcomes at the population level. Read More

New Doc Offers ‘Hope’ After Installation of Golden Gate Bridge Safety Nets

From sfexaminer.com
By Natalia Gurevich, March 3, 2026

More than two decades after Kevin Hines decided to end his life, he was joined by one of the men who saved him on a return to the Golden Gate Bridge last week.

Hines jumped from the bridge in 2000 at the age of 19, and said he remembers instantly regretting his decision as soon as he was falling.

Marcus Butler was stationed at the Coast Guard’s Golden Gate Bridge outpost between 1998 and 2002 and participated in the assistance and recovery of 57 people who jumped,

Hines was the only survivor. Read More

The Celebration of Life event for John Travers

will be held on Saturday, March 28, 2026 

at the American Legion Hall in Los Alamitos, CA

For For Details and to RSVP, CLICK HERE.

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.

Project Return Peer Support Network (PRPSN) Earns WRAP Center of Distinction Certification

CASRA member agency Project Return Peer Support Network (PRPSN) is now a licensed Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP) Provider and affiliate of Advocates for Human Potential and has been officially recognized as a WRAP Center of Distinction.

This prestigious designation highlights PRPSN’s commitment to excellence in delivering (WRAP) Seminars and supporting recovery-oriented practices. 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.

Learn More

"I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word."

Martin Luther King, Jr.