Breaking Barriers California

We will reflect and share lessons learned on developing a university/community partnership around our mutual commitments to supporting Wellness Coach pathways. This will include our activities preparing participants for certification and envisioning on-going support for quality continuing education, as well as potentially developing communities of practice. In rural communities in particular, we share a commitment to not duplicating efforts and working smarter together for sustainability. Additionally, with over 30 individual school districts within our rural county, we are aiming to offer consistent messaging and support, in particular to smaller rural schools where there may be fewer resources for supervision and consultation for behavioral health practitioners at all levels.

Too often, young people and lived experience professionals are expected to lead without being equipped. They’re celebrated for their stories, but not supported in building the skills and systems knowledge to make those stories sustainable tools for change. This session introduces the ‘Youth Facilitator Training’—a flexible, certification-based model that prepares young leaders under 25 to step into facilitation with confidence, credibility, and clarity of purpose.

More than a skill-building course, this training reframes facilitation as both a leadership strategy and a healing practice—an intentional way to prepare youth to not just “share their truth,” but to hold space, move groups, and shape outcomes. It also challenges the common stigmas that young or lived experience leaders face: that they’re unprofessional, unqualified, or not “ready.” Readiness is not innate—it’s built. This session explores what it looks like to build it with care and accountability.

California’s youth face complex behavioral health challenges that require unified, responsive systems of support. In this session, leaders from the California Department of Public Health, Office of School Health, and the California Department of Education, Office of School-Based Health Programs, will share how their cross-agency partnership is addressing student behavioral health through coordinated strategies and shared vision.

Attendees will gain insight into how agencies are co-developing tools, delivering technical assistance, and building local capacity to meet the diverse needs of school communities across the state. We’ll explore key elements of our collaboration, including strong interagency communication, equity-driven planning, and sustainable system-building. Learn how we’re translating policy into practice and fostering relationships that bridge health and education—creating a model that puts student well-being at the center.

“The shortest distance between two people is a story.” This quote by Patti Digh captures the power of storytelling—a vital strategy in community schools to uncover the "why" behind our data and drive meaningful change.

Storytelling predates written language and has always been a way to share knowledge, values, and culture. Today, it remains a powerful method for building trust, empathy, and connection. In education, it creates space for shared understanding, belonging, and collaboration.

During the 2024–2025 school year, two California Community Schools Partnership Program (CCSPP) grantee schools in the Bay Area participated in a Street Data Community of Practice, part of the Community Engagement Initiative (CEI). This work, grounded in Street Data by Shane Safir and Jamila Dugan, followed the Equity Transformation Cycle and was supported by the Bay Area Community Schools RTAC and the Alameda County Office of Education.

San Lorenzo High School’s Street Data Team—made up of staff, parents, and community partners—met regularly for six months. The school also formed a Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) group, named by students: the Royal Black Power Union. Through shared leadership and goals, the group aimed to listen deeply, reimagine possibilities, and transform the educational experience for Black students.

This session will share San Lorenzo High’s Street Data journey, offering practical tools and insights to help others apply storytelling and Street Data practices to build stronger, more equitable school communities.

Access to essential services is often hindered by fragmented systems, siloed efforts. This session explores practical strategies and proven structures for fostering cross-agency collaboration using Yolo County’s K-12 Partnership as a model. This session will explore how cross-sector collaboration and intentional system alignment can create sustainable mental health infrastructures. Participants will examine models for effective multi-agency partnerships that bridge gaps between education, Health and Human Services, and community-based organizations. Through real-world examples and practical tools, the session will highlight how aligned efforts can reduce duplication, maximize resources, and build equitable, long-term mental health systems that meet student needs.

(Deep Dive following the Main Stage session.)

Sacramento County's Child, Youth and Family Interagency Leadership Team has developed a unique interagency outcomes monitoring dashboard to inform it's collective work together. The dashboard has begun to inform the system partner's outcomes and shared leadership decision-making. This session will orient attendees to the county's journey through its developmental processes, how and who was involved in the design and development and highlight essential lessons and insights that might inform other integrated system efforts around the state.

Growing up in the neighborhood of Hunters Point in San Francisco and Oak Park in Sacramento, I was exposed to many of the issues affecting the people in my community. I struggled firsthand with barriers similar to those of my peers. My experience of being in institutions, challenges with substances and mental health, being sent to various continuation schools, growing up in poverty, and more allowed me to provide a unique lens to organizations and help other youth like myself. In the past 4 years, I have worked with marginalized youth of various demographics, and in the past 2 years, I have worked with and advocated for our most vulnerable youth as an appointed board member. The same challenges I have faced, our youth are still facing today. Our youth are in need of support, hungering for love, care, attention and overall a better life, but turning to gangs, crime, abusive relationships, substances, are in and out of institutions and as a result of poverty, experience homelessness. They have no clue of how to live a different way, and at times, no other options since not only the education system, but the world is not set up for everyone to thrive. The kids of today are our future, not burdens or a means of making an income from their suffering. It is time that we stop turning a blind eye to the troubles our youth face. We are oftentimes too fearful of causing a ruckus or taking on a challenge. But then, who stands up for our kids? I have stood alone in my advocacy for our youth, and I am asking my peers to stand with me. Our kids need us, and it is time to loudly and unapologetically stand up for change.

The Behavioral Health Student Services Act (BHSSA) is a Commission for Behavioral Health (CBH)-funded initiative supporting BHSSA school-based mental health efforts in California throughout 58 county grantee partnerships. A unique aspect of the grantee-support model is the Technical Coaching Teams (TCTs), three counties funded to provide peer coaching to their fellow BHSSA grantees. The TCT grantees are Tehama County (Data Collection), Placer County (Program Implementation), and Imperial County (Partnership Development, Sustainability).

Join this vibrant panel, moderated by the BHSSA Statewide Technical Assistance Coordinator, to gain insights into the celebrations, challenges, and lessons learned in sustaining programmatic work and workforce wellbeing through integrated partnerships among providers, community-based organizations, school sites, state entities, and more.

CCEE and SCCOE will share the newly released online Integrated System of Care Toolkit including interactive features and highly requested templates and examples.

Research has shown that rather than preventing or deterring crime, punitive approaches to youth justice create cycles of disadvantage and increase the risk of future justice involvement. However, research also points the way to what does work: meaningful accountability, genuine support, and the chance to not let a young person’s worst decisions define them for the rest of their lives. Early interventions that keep youth in their community, connected to their families, and provided with opportunity drastically reduces reoffending. This approach isn’t soft on crime; it’s smart on prevention.

In this session, we will discuss the youth justice realignment efforts in progress in California, examine youth justice and public safety through a public health lens, hear stories from youth who have been court involved, see examples of successful cross-sector collaboration, and explore the role each of us, and our organizations, play in this work.

The realignment of California’s youth justice system requires collaboration, innovation, and a shared commitment to creating opportunities for growth and accountability. By focusing on healing and second chances, we can break cycles of harm, foster resilience, and build safer communities. With the right tools and support, all young people have the potential to thrive.

(Deep Dive following the Main Stage session.)

As schools rethink how to support student behavioral health, a critical gap remains: most screeners rely on checkboxes and Likert scales, reducing complex emotions to simple, one-dimensional metrics. The South County SELPA's Behavioral Health Screener changes this by capturing authentic student voice through open-ended, reflective prompts that invite real conversation.

Developed in collaboration with teachers, counselors, and administrators from member districts and supported by California's Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative (CYBHI), this screener represents our collective commitment to STAY THE COURSE TOGETHER in student wellness. It provides a safe, non-judgmental space for students to share their experiences, insights, and challenges, creating a richer, more nuanced understanding of their well-being. The result is a deeper, data-driven view that can inform early intervention, personalize support, and improve overall school climate.

The screener's responses are processed using a combination of Natural Language Processing (NLP), machine learning, and human review, ensuring that every voice is heard and every insight is actionable. This approach captures real, unfiltered student reflections, generating data that can be shared securely across organizations to drive better outcomes.

This community-informed, deeply trusted, and scalable tool enables meaningful insights that strengthen the connections between students, educators, and behavioral health professionals. When implemented across partner schools, it ensures that the data generated is relevant, actionable, and aligned with the unique needs of each community — creating a foundation for long-term student success through shared goals and unified vision.

Child Trends is publishing a report called Visibility Through the Ashes on the rising rates of Student Homelessness in California five years after the pandemic and the LA wildfires. That report will be presented at John Muir High School in Altadena in August 2028 where Berkeley professor Deborah McCoy will engage student leaders in the Y-PLAN (Youth - Plan, Learn, Act, Now!) civic work-based learning workshop focused on resilience, disaster recovery, and homelessness prevention through youth/high school student civic engagement. Building on their decade-long Y-PLAN Global initiative, this workshop will adapt proven youth-driven disaster response strategies to Pasadena USD and the greater LA region, enhancing community resilience and preparedness while addressing the rise in displacement and student homelessness. The students will then present their Resilience & Homelessness Prevention Action Plan with policy recommendations to key stakeholders. This panel will detail the findings of the Child Trends report, the student leader recommendations from Pasadena Unified students and NCYL’s policy and budget recommendations.

This session highlights a powerful collaboration in Solano County that’s changing the way school communities respond to students in acute crisis. Featuring panelists from local education, law enforcement, behavioral health, and community-based organizations, the presentation will showcase the development and ongoing success of the School-Based Mobile Crisis Team—a rapid response unit created to support schools when a student is identified as suicidal or homicidal.

Panelists will walk attendees through how agencies came together to create a coordinated, real-time system of care designed to reduce harm, ensure student safety, and support families through some of their most difficult moments. The presentation will focus on how resource sharing and relationship building across systems allowed for the development of a sustainable, trauma-informed model that serves students holistically.

Attendees will learn how schools are supported from the moment of crisis through follow-up care, how agencies work together to avoid duplication and gaps, and how local leadership is planning for long-term program sustainability. This session will provide practical strategies for communities looking to build their own cross-agency response teams and explore funding options to maintain them.

This interactive workshop explores how co-design and youth voice can drive more equitable and inclusive digital mental health tools. With a focus on the experiences of Latine, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and neurodivergent youth, participants will engage with real-world examples from Soluna—a free digital mental health platform funded by CYBHI and built in partnership with DHCS.

Facilitators will guide attendees through an audience participation activity that models a real co-design process. Participants will see a demo of a feature currently on Soluna and be invited to give direct feedback—mirroring how Soluna gathers input from young people and community partners to shape a tool that reflects their lived experiences. Through collaborative discussion and a small-group design activity, attendees will leave with a clear understanding of what co-design looks like in action and how they can apply it in their future work.

(Deep Dive following the Main Stage session.)

This session explores how braided funding strategies can advance integrated leadership across human services, mental health, probation, education, and community systems. Participants will explore actionable approaches to cross-agency fiscal alignment that enhance sustainability, minimize duplication, and improve outcomes for youth and families.

The presentation features successful funding models that support Systems of Care and Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) and equips leaders with practical tools to embed shared decision-making and accountability into their financial structures. Designed for education, behavioral health, child welfare, and community leaders, this session reframes braided finance not merely as a funding mechanism—but as a powerful leadership strategy for transforming systems.

This session will address Expanded Learning is a vehicle for scalable health, and mental health partnerships, and the role Counties, LEAs, and Expanded Learning partners can play to increase access to tier II and tier III supports. Participants will learn about how partnerships with California’s robust system of Expanded Learning Programs can be part of a cohesive education, health, and human service ecosystem to support wellness and sustain school-based mental health services, MTSS, and Community School strategies.

In Sacramento County, a growing crisis in youth placement stability prompted an unprecedented collaboration across child welfare, behavioral health, and community-based organizations. Over the past year, these partners have been building the Children’s Continuum—a multi-tiered, community-rooted care model designed to meet the needs of youth with complex trauma histories while reducing reliance on institutional placements.

This interactive learning session offers participants a behind-the-scenes look at Sacramento’s work-in-progress, including its design and funding strategies, leadership structures, and integrated contracting approach. Attendees will hear from County leaders and provider partners on the real-world challenges and wins of building shared infrastructure, trust, and new care settings like Enhanced STRTPs, Emergency E-ISFCs, and TSCF Welcome Homes.

More than a showcase, this session will encourage candid discussion of how to move from siloed mandates to shared goals, while staying accountable to families and community voice. Participants will explore actionable strategies to align decision-making and funding across systems—and walk away with practical tools for co-designing integrated solutions in their own communities.

Knowing what funding is available is one piece of the puzzle; navigating (and negotiating!) through the best strategies to leverage available funding fits those puzzle pieces together. With a focus on centering students and building a comprehensive system of school-based behavioral health supports that relies on partnerships, this learning session will guide participants through a facilitated discussion exploring case scenarios where shared financing can get tricky and embracing your partners’ perspectives is critical. Whether you’re a county office of education, school district, county behavioral health agency, or community-based provider, this session will challenge participants to analyze how they approach “their” funding and better understand how to navigate shared financing between partners.

Speaker

Lisa Eisenberg, Child and Youth Health Financing Project Director, WestEd