State Level Advocacy
As a project of the Mental Health Association in California, CAYEN is directly connected to every forum for advocacy on state mental health policy. Through participation in state-level committees and workgroups we have the ability to take the ideas we hear from TAY and make sure that they are reflected in decisions made by policy makers. Through this targeted advocacy at the state level we can directly influence the Governor, State Legislators, the State Department of Mental Health, the Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission, County Mental Health Directors, the Mental Health Planning Council, and others.
Committees we are involved in:
CAYEN, its staff, and its TAY Steering Committee members are active in several local, county, and state-level mental health boards, committees, and workgroups. It is through these forums that CAYEN brings the youth voice to the table. Here we are able to advocate for the needs of TAY across the state and work to ensure that TAY are getting the services that they say work, and that they say they need.
On the state level CAYEN, its director, and its all-TAY Steering Committee are making sure that the TAY voice is represented at the following state-level forums:
- Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission Cultural and Linguistic Competence Committee
- Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission Services Committee
- California Mental Health Directors Association Social Justice Advisory Committee
- California Community College Chancellors Mental Health Advisory Committee
- The California Mental Health Planning Council
- The California Coalition for Mental Health
- California Mental Health Services Authority
- The Emily Q TACT settlement team's Family and Youth engagement group
- Active participants in the California Mental Health Directors Association System Of Care TAY subcommittee