Bill Text: CA SCR145 | 2025-2026 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Mental Health Peer Appreciation Week.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)

Status: (Introduced) 2026-03-18 - From committee: Ordered to third reading. [SCR145 Detail]

Download: California-2025-SCR145-Introduced.html

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CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Concurrent Resolution

No. 145

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Introduced by Senator Weber Pierson

March 11, 2026

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Relative to Mental Health Peer Appreciation Week.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SCR 145, as introduced, Weber Pierson. Mental Health Peer Appreciation Week.

This bill would recognize the 3rd week of May 2026 as Mental Health Peer Appreciation Week in California.

Digest Key

Fiscal Committee: NO  

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Bill Text

WHEREAS, Peers, who are individuals with lived experiences of mental health or substance uses challenges, have unique perspectives on navigating the public behavioral health care system and can encourage, engage, and support other peers on their journey to recovery, health, and wellness; and

WHEREAS, Peers can provide voluntary support services that are cost-effective and Medi-Cal billable in a variety of settings that can help reduce and prevent incarceration, hospitalization, and institutionalization while uplifting people’s health care autonomy; and

WHEREAS, Peer services help reduce health disparities in underserved communities by empowering peers to work in the behavioral health industry, creating a workforce that is reflective of a community’s diversity and health needs; and

WHEREAS, Peer-run warmlines offer a confidential phone and text line open 24 hours a day, seven days a week for individuals who need mental health support to connect with peer counselors who have similar lived experiences, races, ethnicities, sexual orientations, gender identities, or cultural identities; and

WHEREAS, Peer-run reentry programs are focused on assisting justice-involved individuals to integrate back into the community and get connected with proper mental health or substance use support and services to reduce recidivism; and

WHEREAS, Mental health urgent care is a setting where individuals experiencing a mental health or substance misuse crisis can seek peer support in addition to psychiatric medication evaluation, crisis assessment, and linkage to ongoing services and community supports; and

WHEREAS, Peer respite centers offer peer support in short-term, voluntary, community-based settings as an alternative to inpatient care by allowing overnight stays, ranging from a day to a couple of weeks, where individuals who may be experiencing heightened mental health challenges, but are not in crisis, can access support and services that prepare them for reentry into the community; and

WHEREAS, Mobile crisis teams are community-based interventions where behavioral health teams, including peers, travel to individuals experiencing a mental health crisis in whatever setting they are in, whether that be at home, work, school, or in the community, and provide peer support to help deescalate and reduce the risk of imminent danger; and

WHEREAS, The Peer-to-Peer Youth Mental Health program can mitigate provider shortages, reduce mental health stigma, and offer a workforce development pipeline for youth, embedding supportive structures in the educational system to promote mental health resilience and well-being among adolescents; and

WHEREAS, Peer-run wellness centers establish supportive spaces to reduce stigma around mental health, increase access to services and resources, and build community among California’s diverse populations, including, but not limited to, Black, Indigenous, Latino, Asian, Pacific Islander, and LGBTQIA+ communities; and

WHEREAS, Peer support is an evidence-based practice that is integrated into the delivery of mental health services provided by counties, including Assertive Community Treatment, Forensic Assertive Community Treatment, Coordinated Specialty Care for First Episode Psychosis, and Individual Placement and Support Supported Employment; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby recognizes the third week of May 2026, during National Mental Health Awareness Month, as Mental Health Peer Appreciation Week in California; and be it further

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.