Quick look: Orange County education and health leaders gathered to celebrate local progress tied to a statewide initiative that has expanded student mental health services. Speakers pointed to new wellness spaces, added clinicians and stronger referral systems, while pledging to sustain and grow these supports.
School districts and health agencies across Orange County gathered on Wednesday afternoon to reflect on the progress of a statewide effort that has expanded mental health services for local students.
The Student Behavioral Health Incentive Program, or SBHIP, was created by the California Department of Health Care Services to make mental health care more accessible for children and teens. Between 2022 and 2024, the state invested $389 million through managed care plans, with CalOptima Health receiving more than $25 million to strengthen support for youth in Orange County.
Those dollars helped fuel a broad range of initiatives locally — from creating WellSpace centers on campuses and training staff to recognize warning signs, to hiring more clinicians and streamlining referrals for families in crisis. CalOptima leaders estimate the program has touched nearly half a million children across the county.
On Sept. 24, CalOptima hosted an SBHIP Partners Appreciation Luncheon at Hotel Fera Anaheim to recognize the collaboration that made these outcomes possible. Attendees included district administrators, counselors and representatives from OCDE, along with the OC Health Care Agency, Hazel Health, Western Youth Services and CHOC, now part of Rady Children’s Health.
Essential to learning
In his remarks, County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Stefan Bean emphasized that mental health care is not just an extra service but an essential one. Drawing from his own life experiences — including childhood surgeries after surviving polio in Vietnam and later supporting his children through grief after losing his wife — he spoke of the difference that counselors, mentors and mental health resources can make.
“When I think about mental health and behavioral health, I always come back to faces — my own, my children’s and the faces of the 450,000 students across Orange County,” Dr. Bean said.
The event, he added, marked an opportunity to reflect on what’s been accomplished and to renew commitments.
“Today, we can point to real progress,” he said. “We’ve expanded behavioral health services for children and youth who otherwise might not have had a chance. We are catching needs earlier. We are reducing barriers. We are changing lives, all of us. And I want to thank you, every single partner in this room.”
Improving connections
CalOptima CEO Michael Hunn described the effort as “a big deal” that has brought hundreds of clinicians and caregivers together in service of students.
“So as we put out the funds and the support, we collaborate together, we meet, we talk, we come together as this coalition here [remember that] at the center of it is a student who needs our help,” he said. “And I don’t want us to forget that.”
The luncheon also featured reflections from school leaders in Irvine and Santa Ana, who described how the program has improved connections to care on their campuses.
Organizers closed by looking ahead to the next phase of work — sustaining campus-based services, continuing to train staff, and ensuring that every student who needs help can find it.