By Angela Powell-Bulutoglu, LMFT
Manager, Families in Transition Program

Clinicians are working steadfastly to address the mental health crisis here in Alameda County for families. With impending school closures in Oakland (many of which are beloved safe havens for black and brown youth), the ever-increasing cost of living, and the devastating impacts of COVID-19 (which have certainly highlighted the health inequities of the BIPOC families we serve), our clinicians bear witness to profound individual and systemic trauma. They are advocates in schools, making eager attempts to help youth impacted by traumatic stress achieve academic success. They are family therapists to those in the child welfare system, helping members to reunify while promoting hope that profound change can happen when parents are vulnerable and accountable. They are crisis therapists to those needing hospitalization at their darkest hour when thoughts of suicide are too difficult to bear.

Those clinicians who stay in the position are deeply committed to the work while knowing that at any time jobs with less exposure to trauma, higher pay, and better benefits exist elsewhere. When asked what keeps them in the position, the answer is almost always “the relationships [they] have to each other.” Community building has proven difficult to achieve in the pandemic but somehow our clinicians have figured out a way. Even with the camaraderie and connection the position may not be sustainable for some, particularly therapists with lived experience similar to the clients we serve. If we are unable to meet the financial needs of BIPOC and bilingual clinicians, we are only perpetuating the colonization of mental health, a field (like many) with a long history of monopolization by white and privileged people. In an effort to meet the needs of clients and to advocate for completive wages for clinicians, community-based organizations like Family Paths continue to advocate at the county and federal level for increased funding.

In an effort to elevate the voices of the community in support of a 15% funding increase for Community Based Organizations (CBOs), like Family Paths, the Behavioral Health Collaborative has created the Act Now! For Access To Mental Health website to give clinicians, support staff, clients, their families, and the Alameda County community a voice in the critical debate for adequate funding for behavioral health. Your voice is an important part of helping people in our community who need and deserve access to mental health and substance use treatment resources.

Act Now! website enables you to send letters directly to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, with copies to Dr. Tribble, Colleen Chawla, and Susan Muranishi. SEND A LETTER NOW!