County to invest $75 million in mental health care training with new program

As seen in the San Diego Union-Tribune: A 2022 report concluded that San Diego County faces a mental health care staffing crisis and needs 18,500 more mental health care workers by 2027 to catch up with chronic understaffing.

While it will not cover the whole gap, a new program launched at Liberty Station in Point Loma on Thursday makes a $75 million investment intended to grow local behavioral health staffing. Dubbed ELEVATE, the new program, approved by the county Board of Supervisors in 2023, uses a special innovation grant from the state’s Mental Health Services Act to fund a range of initiatives, from apprenticeship programs for entry-level positions to graduate-level training targeted at growing the number of professionals able to diagnose and treat mental illness.