California Reformed a Major Conservatorship Law. Is It Making a Difference?

By:  HSJC Newsroom 

Three years ago, California lawmakers promised a fix for one of the state’s most persistent mental health challenges: how to get severely ill people into treatment when they are unable or unwilling to seek help on their own. Senate Bill 43 was supposed to widen the net for involuntary, year-long mental health conservatorships, giving counties more tools to intervene before a crisis turned deadly.

But a new analysis suggests the law hasn’t delivered the sweeping change many had hoped for.

Reporting shows that among California’s largest counties, most have seen no meaningful rise in conservatorship numbers since the law took effect. Toni Navarro, who leads behavioral health services for Santa Barbara County, put it plainly: the law simply hasn’t had the impact officials anticipated.

That’s not to say SB 43 accomplished nothing. Behavioral health leaders in several counties credit the law with pushing mental health and substance abuse teams to collaborate more closely — a meaningful shift given how often Californians struggling with addiction are also battling serious mental illness.

Still, for families who lost loved ones to crises that went unresolved, the law’s limited reach is a painful reality. Annis Pereyra, whose son Joaquin Anthony “Tony” Pereyra was fatally shot by Walnut Creek police during a mental health episode in February, believes a conservatorship could have forced her son into taking antipsychotic medication — and possibly saved his life. “His needs were ignored at every turn that happened,” she said. “Every single turn.”

Her story underscores the gap between the law’s intent and its practical effect, a gap that continues to frustrate families and officials alike as California works to reform its mental health system.

Original source: CalMatters 

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California Reformed a Major Conservatorship Law. Is It Making a Difference?