Kaiser Permanente Awards $2M to Reduce Stigma of Mental Illness

The City of Fremont is among 23 Northern California organizations recently awarded community health grants totaling $2 million for programs and initiatives to reduce stigma around mental illness. The city’s Human Services Department will use the funds to combat self-harm among young people in bi-cultural households.

The $2 million anti-stigma investment will support community organizations in developing trainings, public forums and awareness campaigns that are customized for specific populations. This is the first part of a three-year initiative.

Other grantees include school districts, youth and family services and community coalitions that bring together a variety of stakeholders and agencies to serve people that historically shy away from getting mental health services

"Stigma is influenced by our cultural belief systems and it impacts our decisions to seek care, even in times of crisis," said Yener Balan, MD, FAPA, executive director of behavioral health for Kaiser Permanente in Northern California. "Kaiser Permanente believes that a person’s culture should be at the center of their health care experience, not a barrier to getting the care they need."

Annie Bailey, Administrator, City of Fremont Human Services Department, Youth & Family Services Division, said the grants will help the city’s Self Harm and Mental Health Stigma Reduction project to address the needs of youth being raised in bi-cultural households where there is significant stress related to acculturation and stigma associated with mental health issues, with its screening and treatment services for youth.

"Stigma around mental health issues and associated barriers to identification and treatment cause many people and particularly children to not get the support they need at an early age," Bailey said. "This generous grant gives us the opportunity to help change community perception, increase awareness and knowledge, and ensure that youth are referred to necessary screening and treatment services."

Yvette Radford, vice president of external and community affairs for Kaiser Permanente Northern California, credits community health organizations and health care providers that attended Kaiser Permanente’s 2017 Mental Health Forum with playing a critical role in shaping the initiative.

"Forum attendees participated in break-out sessions to talk about the challenges they face in addressing stigma and make specific recommendations on how we could best support their work," said Radford.

Radford also said that addressing stigma is a major priority for Kaiser Permanente, and that the investments in Northern California are designed to complement the Find Your Words campaign the organization launched in 2016 with partners including the National Alliance on Mental Illness, National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, Crisis Text Line and Mental Health America.

"We hope to reach as many people as possible with these efforts,” said Radford. “Equally important to us is discovering innovative approaches for dispelling the mental illness myths and misunderstandings that keep people from reaching their best overall health."

The complete list of grantees includes:

• Antioch Unified School District, Antioch
• City of Fremont Human Services Department, Fremont
• La Clinica de la Raza, Antioch
• La Familia Counseling, San Leandro
• LifeLong Brookside Medical Center, Richmond
• Youth Radio, Oakland
• First 5 Solano, Fairfield
• Boys & Girls Clubs of North San Mateo, South San Francisco
• Camarena Health Centers, Fresno
• Solano County/Solano Family Justice Center, Fairfield
• Caminar for Mental Health, San Jose
• Daly City Youth Health Center, Daly City
• Delta Health Care, Stockton
• Elk Grove Unified School District, Elk Grove
• Encompass Community Service Center, Santa Cruz
• Health Education Council, West Sacramento
• Instituto Familiar de la Raza (to support the Chicano, Latino/Indigena Health Equity Coalition), San Francisco
• LifeWorks of Sonoma County, Santa Rosa
• North Marin Community Services, San Rafael
• Momentum for Health, Santa Clara
• Rafiki Coalition for Health and Wellness (to support the African American Community Health Equity Council), San Francisco
• The PRIDE Center, San Mateo
• Richmond Area Multi-Services (to support the Asian Pacific Islander Health Parity Coalition), San Francisco
• San Juan Unified School District (to support the White House Counseling Center), Carmichael
• West Modesto Collaborative, Modesto