Community Programs
We recognize the importance of working with the community to provide mental health care for all.
Sacramento is one of the most ethnically diverse and integrated metropolitan areas in the country. Our location in the capital of California allows our department to help shape policies and programs to improve quality and access to mental health services for people in our community and beyond.
Community Engagement Highlights
We work with Sacramento County to bring mental health services to the underserved and the most in need. This relationship benefits the people we directly help and improves the lives of all that live in the area. The county programs we work with include:
- Sacramento Mental Health Treatment Center
- Sacramento County Primary Care Center
- Adult Psychiatric Support Services (APSS)
- Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (CAPS)
- Sacramento County Correctional Health
- Urgent Care Clinic
- Crisis Residential Unit Early Diagnosis and Preventative Treatment Clinic
We also partner with a number of community programs including Turning Point, Heritage Oaks and other facilities in the area.
Our department is fortunate to have a strong Forensics Psychiatry Program (the division of Psychiatry and the Law). Through this program, we partner with the Napa State Hospital and the Department of State Hospitals to bring mental health services and care to adults and juveniles at the local, state and national level.
Our community partnerships benefit both our trainees and the individuals and families we serve. These collaborations allow us to provide leading-edge, academically informed, research-based care that few institutions can match.
Our strong relationships also enrich our academic programs by offering diverse training experiences for residents, fellows, and medical students. Equally important, our trainees learn from faculty with deep clinical and research expertise across multiple psychiatry subspecialties—expertise that directly enhances the quality of care provided in the community.
We currently have trainees rotating at the following community sites, as well as several Primary Care Network locations throughout the Sacramento Valley:
- Mental Health Adult Psychiatric Support Services (APSS) – Stockton Clinic
- Veterans Affairs - Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit
- Napa State Hospital
- Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (CAPS)
- Kaiser Electroconvulsive Therapy
- Geriatric Psychiatry - Midtown Clinic
- Sacramento Jail Psychiatric Services
- Sacramento County Primary Care Center
- Sacramento County Mental Health Treatment Center
Our department partnered with Digital CoLab to create a digital support program for patients with mental health and substance use disorders after their release from jail. The program provides free smartphones, automated SMS text message check-ins and a web-based community resource guide.
The program, called Digital SAFE-T, is an extension of the SAFE-T (Sub-Acute Facilitated Engagement and Transitions) Program. SAFE-T is built on a partnership between Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and WellSpace Health (the largest federally qualified health center or FQHC in Sacramento). It provides personalized case management for recently incarcerated individuals.
The SAFE-T team connects participants with benefits and services they are eligible to receive. This includes Social Security (SSI) benefits, Medi-Cal (California's Medicaid health care program), housing assistance, access to mental health providers, bus passes and many other forms of support.