Behavioral Health System Planning & Improvement

Working Together to Acess to Care and Meet Community Needs

The County of San Diego Behavioral Health Services (BHS) is working to help more people get the right mental health and substance use care, at the right time, in the right setting. This means looking beyond individual programs to understand how services work together, where people face barriers, and what is needed to improve care across San Diego County.

Our Role and Approach to Care

BHS serves as the County's Specialty Behavioral Health Plan and local behavioral health authority. We work with providers and community partners to plan and manage behavioral health services, help people access care, and meet State requirements.

To help reach these goals, we focus on:

Connecting people to the right care: Offering alternatives to hospital care or other intensive treatment when appropriate.
Supporting care in the least restrictive setting: Helping people receive care that meets their needs while supporting independence and recovery.
Reducing gaps and delays: Making it easier for people to access services and move between levels of care as their needs change.

These priorities guide how we plan for the future and improve the local behavioral health system.

How State Changes Affect Local Care

California is making major changes to how behavioral health services are funded, delivered, and measured. These changes bring new requirements and opportunities to build on work already underway in San Diego County.

Two major efforts are helping shape this work:

Behavioral Health Transformation includes changes to how counties plan and fund behavioral health services, along with State investments to expand treatment facilities.
BH-CONNECT focuses on strengthening Medi-Cal behavioral health care, including access to community-based services and support for the behavioral health workforce.

Other changes, such as Senate Bill 43 and the CARE Act Program, affect how eligible individuals may be connected to treatment and support.

Along with changes to services and funding, California is placing greater focus on community health, equity, coordination, and measuring results. For BHS, these changes affect how we plan services, work with providers, support access to care, and measure results. They also create new opportunities to address gaps and build on improvements already underway.

Stay Informed About Statewide Changes: Visit the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) Stakeholder Engagement webpage to sign up for updates about State behavioral health policies, funding opportunities, and ways to provide input.

Planning for Community Needs

To plan for the future, BHS brings together service data, research, and community input. This helps us understand where services are needed, what barriers people face, and where improvements could make the greatest difference.

Optimal Care Pathways

Our Optimal Care Pathways (OCP) models use data and research to help estimate future mental health and substance use treatment needs.

The models help BHS:

Reduce bottlenecks that delay access to care or transitions between services.
Improve access by identifying where more or different services may be needed.
Set measurable targets for future service capacity and use,
Set measurable targets for future service capacity and use.

BHS has developed OCP models for mental health, substance use disorder, and children and youth. These models help us understand how services work together and plan for the right mix of care across the system.

Learn more about Optimal Care Pathways and our models.

Behavioral Health Services Act Integrated Plan

The Behavioral Health Services Act (BHSA) is part of California's Behavioral Health Transformation efforts. It changes how counties plan, fund, and report on behavioral health services. San Diego County's 2026–2029 BHSA Integrated Plan brings together community needs, planned services, goals, and projected spending from several behavioral health funding sources. The plan helps show how BHS intends to use available resources to address local needs and work toward shared goals. It is one part of our broader approach to planning and improving behavioral health services.

Visit the Behavioral Health Services Act webpage to explore the Integrated Plan and other BHSA resources.

Building Capacity to Provide Care

Planning helps us understand what is needed. BHS is also investing in the services, facilities, workforce, and community organizations needed to provide care.

Expanding Treatment Options

The planned Behavioral Health Wellness Campus will bring several mental health and substance use treatment and recovery services together in one location. It is intended to expand treatment options and support better transitions between levels of care. BHS also supports services that help people receive care in their communities. For example, Next Move provides outpatient behavioral health services and other support to youth involved with, or at risk of entering, the justice system, including those returning to the community from juvenile detention.

Growing the Behavioral Health Workforce

The ELEVATE Behavioral Health Workforce Fund helps people enter and advance in behavioral health careers through education, training, financial support, and opportunities to gain work experience. These efforts help build the workforce needed to provide care across San Diego County.

Working Together to Improve the System

Many challenges raised through community planning are not new. They involve complex issues that communities, providers, and partners have worked to address for years.

As BHS puts the 2026-2029 BHSA Integrated Plan into action, we will continue building on what communities have shared and looking more closely at how services and systems can work better together.

The Optimal Care Collaboratives (OCCs) are one way BHS is supporting these discussions. They bring together people with different experiences, roles, and perspectives to examine shared challenges, explore opportunities for stronger coordination, and help inform future planning. These discussions will bring community perspectives together with local data, existing services, and ongoing efforts. They will also help identify where more work is needed across health care, schools, housing, justice, and other community systems.

The OCCs are one part of BHS's broader approach to community engagement and system improvement. Learn more about the OCCs and ways to participate through the Community Planning Process webpage.

Updated 10/26/26