Welcome to the CASRA Newsletter

In this issue:

-Registration for the first session of the CASRA Learning Series opens September 1st!

-Peer support is gaining recognition but systemic barriers remain

- Why building of new affordable housing lags-

-HUD loses again

-Jailing doesn't help anyone

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

Visit us on Instagram and Linkedin

   

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION

Peer Support Is Gaining Recognition, but Systemic Barriers Remain

Three New Papers Argue That Lived Experience Is Essential to Mental Health Recovery While Highlighting the Stigma, Role Confusion, and Organizational Barriers That Continue To Limit Peer Support Workers’ Impact.

From madinamerica.com
By Richard Sears, August 7, 2026

This week, Mad in America explores three new articles around peer support work. The first essay argues that peer support is crucial to mental health recovery and that lived experience of mental health struggles should be acknowledged as expertise on par with medical and psychiatric training. The second study finds that peer support workers often face stigma from their colleagues. The third study finds that systemic barriers, lack of role clarity, and undervaluing lived experience are persistent problems for peer support workers and lived experience experts. Read More

Almost Nowhere in California Is Building Enough, According to the State. Here’s Why

From calmatters.org
By Ben Christopher, August 11, 2026

Every eight years, state housing regulators give cities and counties across California an especially dreaded homework assignment: Make a plan for a bunch of new homes.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration assigns localities goals to hit at four different affordability levels. Collectively, the numbers represent the housing department’s best estimate of the number of new homes needed to match any expected population growth and to chip away at the state’s decades-in-the-making shortage of affordable places to live.

With these targets meted out to each region ona rolling basis, this summer, a massive chunk of the state, including most of Southern California, passed its halfway mark.

So in the spirit of a mid-term exam, how are cities and counties doing? Read More

HUD Loses Again in Fight Over Homeless Funding

A Federal Judge Vacated HUD’s 2026 Grant Rules, But Advocates Warn the Larger Fight Over Funding Is Far from Over

From invisiblepeople.tv
By Robert Davis, August 13, 2026

A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to vacate its proposed changes to the 2026 Continuum of Care grant program, the largest single source of federal funding for homeless services in the U.S.

In the ruling, which was handed down by District Judge Mary McElroy of Rhode Island on August 7, the judge noted that the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s attempts to create a $1.3 billion “set aside” pool for the administration’s pet projects were “procedurally invalid.” The judge also chastised the agency for ignoring the public notice-and-comment process when it revised its standards for homeless services funding.

“As the Court expects HUD is well aware, the term notice and comment invokes a concrete set of rules that require administrative agencies to receive feedback from members of the public in a structured, more formalized setting than their argument would otherwise suggest,” McElroy wrote in her decision. “HUD’s specious argument that the [McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act] provides it with the ability to engage in some vague, undefined, and informal version of the notice-and-comment process lacks even marginal support from the text, structure, or history of the MVA.” Read More

Keeping Mentally Ill Angelenos in Jail Doesn’t Help Anyone

From latimes.com
By Clemens Hong, guest contributor, August 13, 2026

A man slammed me onto the concrete on East 7th in Skid Row — fast, hard and without warning.

One moment, I was walking. The next, I was on the ground, my head hitting the pavement inches from a tree trunk. He stood over me, screaming words I could not understand, with his arms swinging wildly. I covered my head and braced for blows that never came.

Within seconds, he was gone, disappearing into the chaos of downtown Los Angeles. As I gathered myself, a man offered to bring over a police officer who was down the street. Did I want to file a police report?

The man who tackled me didn’t need jail. He needed psychiatric treatment. I wished I knew how to find him and get him into care before someone else got hurt. 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.

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.

Learn More

From

Pat Deegan's Newsletter

Are we making changes or are we making progress? How about in our movement to transform mental health services to support people in making their journey of recovery: Are we making changes or are we making progress?

I learned about the difference between change and progress from my old spiritual advisor Fr. William MacNamara.Here’s the gist of the lesson he taught me:

We are very busy making changes these days. But often the changes we make are more like re-arranging the chairs on the deck of the Titanic. All we really achieve is a better view while going down.

I’m interested in progress, not in change. When thinking about taking on a new work project, I find it helpful to ask: “What is the progress I hope to contribute to? If I decide to participate in this project, will it just amount to re-arranging the chairs on the deck of the Titanic?

I’m interested in your thoughts. Are we making changes in behavioral health, or are we making progress?