REDDING, Calif., July 21, 2025
The Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC) gathered leaders from 11 rural Northern California counties for the North State Behavioral Health Leadership Convening, a landmark event on building collaborative solutions to improve behavioral health and crisis response systems across rural Northern California counties.
Held at Shasta County Office of Education, the convening brought together top officials from 11 rural and frontier counties—including Behavioral Health Directors, County Administrative Officers, Health and Human Services Directors, Sheriffs and Chief Probation Officers—to accelerate regional alignment on mental health care access, crisis response coordination and infrastructure investment.
Together, the convening partners are working to ensure that recent statewide behavioral health reforms translate into meaningful and sustainable improvements for rural and frontier counties.
“California has made bold and necessary commitments to behavioral health transformation, and one of the most significant is the once-in-a-generation opportunity through BHCIP ,” said Kimberly Johnson, CEO of Arch Collaborative. “But true statewide transformation isn’t possible without the insight and leadership of rural and frontier counties. This convening is about ensuring that those closest to the challenges, and the solutions, are leading together with a unified voice to build systems that actually work for the regions we serve.”
The agenda featured opening remarks from former State Senator Brian Dahle and Shasta County Board Chair Kevin Crye, followed by a deep dive into statewide reforms and promising regional partnerships already underway, including the Sutter-Yuba regional model, Drug Medi-Cal Organized Delivery System (DMC-ODS) implementation, and presentations from Steinberg Institute CEO Karen Larsen on California’s behavioral health initiatives, Kimberly Johnson on Arch Collaborative’s work on a Prop 1 BHCIP application, due October 28th, and Sheriff Johnson’s Corrections & Rehabilitation Campus proposal.
“Rural communities face unique challenges in the delivery of timely, effective behavioral health care—but they also bring unique strengths, including deep local partnerships and a spirit of innovation,” said Patrick Blacklock, President and CEO of RCRC. “By working together across county lines, we can build a more responsive, resilient system that truly meets the needs of our residents.”
"This convening begins to bridge the space between Sacramento’s policies and the lived experiences of rural communities like ours," said Former Senator Brian Dahle. “RCRC’s commitment to improving behavioral health care in the rural north builds on its longstanding history of strengthening rural counties.”
Afternoon breakout sessions allowed attendees to workshop solutions around mobile crisis response, CalAIM justice system integration, and competitive opportunities such as the BHCIP Bond funding. Participants left with concrete next steps, shared priorities and a commitment to ongoing collaboration.
ABOUT ARCH COLLABORATIVE:
Arch Collaborative works to ensure trauma-informed, community-based services are available to vulnerable populations across Northern California. The organization specializes in building regional partnerships, securing government funding, and developing sustainable programs that reflect the needs of rural communities.
ABOUT THE STEINBERG INSTITUTE:
The Steinberg Institute is a mental health and substance use advocacy organization that has been the driving force behind sweeping improvements in California behavioral health policy for over a decade. Founded by former Sacramento Mayor and State Senate Pro Tem Emeritus Darrell Steinberg, the Institute is dedicated to transforming California’s mental health and substance use systems through rigorous public policy research and actionable policy solutions. Our Vision 2030 Initiative plans to fix what’s broken and scale what’s working in our behavioral health system through rigorous research, advocacy, and implementation. Visit us at www.steinberginstitute.org to learn more and get involved.
