About the CARE Act

CARE Act Background

Senate Bill (SB) 1338 (Chapter 319, Statutes of 2022) established the Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) Act (in effect Jan. 1 2023) to provide community-based behavioral health services and supports to Californians living with untreated schizophrenia spectrum or other psychotic disorders through a new civil court process. The CARE Act is intended as an intervention for the most severely impaired Californians to prevent avoidable psychiatric hospitalizations, incarceration, and Lanterman-Petris-Short (LPS) Mental Health conservatorship.

The CARE Act is based on evidence which demonstrates that many people can stabilize, begin healing, and exit homelessness in less restrictive, community-based care settings. In order to achieve these results, the CARE Court will place individuals on a court-ordered CARE plan for up to 12-months, with the possibility of 12-month extension.

For more background information, please visit the following pages:

CARE Act Training & Technical Assistance

The Department of Health Care Services has contracted with Health Management Associates (HMA) to provide training and technical assistance and data collection and reporting support for the Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) Act. HMA provides training and technical assistance to the following:

County Behavioral Health (BH) Agencies including their providers and consultants
Volunteer Supporters in consultation with disability rights groups, county BH and aging agencies, individuals with lived experience, families, racial justice experts, and other appropriate stakeholders
Counsel in consultation with relevant state departments and the California Interagency Council on Homelessness (Cal ICH)

HMA offers training and open forum discussions on prioritized topics. In addition to the training and open-forum webinar schedule, HMA provides specific technical assistance to Cohort I and Cohort II counties that is responsive to each county’s needs. Trainings are primarily virtual (live and recorded), with focused technical assistance that is tailored to specific needs and requests. HMA is also partnering with other local subject matter experts to inform training and technical assistance. More details on the upcoming Training and Technical Assistance opportunities for 2024 and 2025 will be available shortly.