Charlie Health Launches in California to Make Behavioral Health Treatment Accessible for the First Time to Millions of Young People in Crisis

BOZEMAN, Mont., April 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Charlie Health, the largest provider of behavioral health treatment for youth in crisis, today announced its expansion into California. With this critical expansion, the company will unlock unprecedented access to an effective virtual treatment option for youth and families across the Golden State and a sustainable and equitable solution to the current national state of emergency in youth mental health.

"Today, nearly half of young people in California struggle with mental health issues. But only one in eight receive treatment (The L.A. Trust for Children's Health, December 2021)," said Carter Barnhart, CEO and Co-Founder of Charlie Health. "Rates of both suicide and self harm are on the rise, as are psych-related ER admissions (CA State Auditor, September 2020; CalMatters, September 2021). The current mental healthcare model is unsustainable and ineffective. Charlie Health is delivering life-saving care solutions in a state that is not only grappling with a youth mental health crisis, but also with a serious mental health provider shortage (CalMatters, January 2022)."

Since its launch, Charlie Health has expanded into eleven states across the country with a focus on those with the most critical need. California is now one of them. The state ranks 48th in the nation for youth access to mental healthcare (The Commonwealth Fund, August 2020) with 65% of the youth population (Mental Health America,  October 2021) living without access to behavioral health providers. With this expansion, Charlie Health is filling three major gaps in the mental healthcare system: access, availability, and affordability.

Charlie Health leverages evidence-based, virtual group, family, and individual therapy that allows patients to receive care from home, effectively eliminating barriers based on geography or clinical capacity. This same virtual model also allows the company to group patients based on their unique diagnoses and lived experiences, not just based on where they live. Charlie Health's personalized and easy-to-access treatment leads to improved patient outcomes, including higher attendance and lower rates of admission to higher levels of care. Charlie Health will also make treatment affordable for Californians through its in-network partnerships with some of the largest payors in the state as well as Medicaid.

"Charlie Health will be a vital source of accessible mental healthcare for teens and young adults across California. Rates of youth hospitalizations for mental health crises have been rising steadily in California for a decade. Our care is needed now more than ever," said Jessica Wong, Charlie Health's VP of Clinical Outreach. "Hospitalization cannot be the only avenue to treatment for young people in crisis. We cannot keep flooding emergency rooms or placing families on 60-90 day long waitlists to deal with acute mental health issues. We know that by building partnerships and expanding our outreach efforts across California, we are going to help young people heal and thrive. We are going to save lives."

To learn more, visit www.charliehealth.com.

About Charlie Health
Charlie Health, founded in 2020, is the largest virtual-first mental health clinic for high-acuity teens and young adults who need mental health support more than once a week. Charlie Health provides young people (11-28) struggling with mental health and substance use disorders personalized Intensive Outpatient (IOP) treatment programs consisting of group therapy, individual therapy, and family therapy, along with arranging ongoing psychiatric care if needed to meet your individual needs. By providing individualized, quality, and affordable mental health support, Charlie Health ensures that sustainable healing is available to all.

Press Inquiries: AZIONE, [email protected]

References

California State Auditor. (2020, September). Youth Suicide Prevention. Sacramento, California.

Reinert, M, Fritze, D. & Nguyen, T. (October 2021). The State of Mental Health in America 2022. Alexandria VA.
https://www.mhanational.org/issues/2022/mental-health-america-youth-data#five

Radley, D., Collins, S., & Baumgartner, J. (2020). 2020 Scorecard on State Health System Performance.
https://2020scorecard.commonwealthfund.org/

The L.A. Trust for Children's Health. (2021, December 17). Barriers and solutions discussed at Youth Mental Health Collaborative.
https://www.thelatrust.org/news/new-post-p4agn-th5zd-282r9-k8hn8-zdhgl-spnaz-k497t

Tobias, M. (2022, January 27). Will worker shortage disrupt California homeless strategy? https://calmatters.org/economy/labor/2022/01/california-homeless-worker-shortage/

Wiener, J. (2021, September 27). Stranded in the ER: Can California change its treatment of kids in crisis?  https://calmatters.org/health/2021/09/children-suicide-residential-treatment-crisis-california/

SOURCE Charlie Health