ACR23 - Mental Health Peer Appreciation Week.

Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 23 CHAPTER 87 Relative to Mental Health Peer Appreciation Week. [ Filed with Secretary of State June 25, 2025. ] LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST ACR 23, Quirk-Silva. Mental Health Peer Appreciation Week. This bill would recognize the 3rd week of May 2025 as Mental Health Peer Appreciation Week in California. Digest Key Fiscal Committee: NO Bill Text WHEREAS, Peers, individuals living with mental or behavioral health challenges, possess the unique understanding and empathy, or lived experience, to encourage, engage, and support other peers on their journey to recovery, health, and wellness; and WHEREAS, Peers can leverage their lived experience to inform local, state, and federal decisionmakers on how policies and legislation impact the availability of, and timely access to, mental and behavioral health services and supports; and WHEREAS, There is a need to increase peer civic engagement in order to ensure that decisionmakers have the insights necessary to make people-centered, informed decisions, understanding how these decisions affect the lives of countless adults, children, adolescents, and families within the health and human services industry; and WHEREAS, Peer voices are vital to developing a more just and robust continuum of care in California, as the state transforms its behavioral health care system and implements the Behavioral Health Services Act; and WHEREAS, California is facing a behavioral health workforce shortage, and peers can become certified Medi-Cal peer support specialists and work with county behavioral health agencies to help close the gap in access to services and supports; and WHEREAS, Medi-Cal peer support specialists are trained providers who use their lived experience to engage peers using the recovery model and the principles and values of peer support to provide hope and support and to be a role model of recovery; now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby recognizes the third week of May 2025, during National Mental Health Awareness Month, as Mental Health Peer Appreciation Week in California; and be it further Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.