Mental Health
Overview
As a behavioral health specialist in San Diego, I have continuously searched for ways to further my involvement in public health policy. I have recently signed up to attend behavioral health advisory board meetings to cultivate my abilities to integrate the mental health sector and the public policy aspirations of my career.
I look to Oregon's Measure 109 as a step in a phenomenal direction for citizens regaining their cognitive liberty by allowing psilocybin services as a preventative measure to preserve wellness. I would love to see other cities adopting such ground-breaking frameworks. I strongly advocate the research of psychedelic substances as alternative treatments for various disorders giving patients more options for treatment.
The purpose of the County of San Diego Behavioral Health Advisory Board is to review and evaluate the community’s behavioral health needs, services, programs, facilities, and procedures used to ensure citizen and professional involvement in the planning process.
The County of San Diego’s Behavioral Health Services (BHS) department provides mental health and substance use disorder services to over 111,000 San Diego County residents of all ages. Services are provided through 9 county-operated programs, over 300 contracts, and 800 individual fee-for-service providers.
BHS offers services across the lifespan through coordinated systems of care and embraces Live Well San Diego, the County’s over-arching vision for a region that is building better health, living safely, and thriving. BHS is leading an ongoing, collaborative effort with justice partners, hospitals, community health centers, and other community-based providers to enhance, expand, and innovate the array of behavioral health programs available throughout the region. This body of work is referred to broadly as the Continuum of Care, and includes the establishment of behavioral health hubs, networks, and new care coordination services to ensure BHS clients have access to the appropriate level of psychiatric services to meet their immediate needs and support long-term recovery.
Source“Psychedelics are illegal not because a loving government is concerned that you may jump out of a third-story window. Psychedelics are illegal because they dissolve opinion structures and culturally laid down models of behavior and information processing."
-Terence Mckenna
