In an effort to address local issues surrounding the Westside area, Stanislaus County’s and Orestimba High’s National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI) chapters held a town hall meeting at the Newman Memorial Building on Feb. 24.
The forum was led by a panel of five students from Orestimba’s NAMI chapter alongside Stanislaus County Supervisor Channce Condit and Ruben Imperial, the director of county Behavioral Health and Recovery Services. During the session, students asked both county representatives questions about mental health issues affecting the area, ranging from access to mental health services to handling crisis responses.
Over 40 attendees were present at the meeting. A translator was present for non-English speaking guests.
OHS freshman Valentine Reyes began the seminar by asking about what’s being done for county residents to gain easier access to mental health services. Imperial, in response, said residents can take advantage of mental and behavioral health services such as the Behavioral Health Services Act (BHSA) and the Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative (CYBHI).
BHSA, passed as Proposition 1 in March 2024, will replace the 2004 Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) in July and will provide more services to people with significant mental health needs while also providing treatment for individuals with substance abuse disorder, housing for those at risk of being or are homeless and increasing the behavioral healthcare workforce count. $3.5 billion will fund the legislative with $950 million will be allocated for housing, according to the California Department of Healthcare Services (DHCS).
CYBHI, launched in July 2021, is a five-year more than $4 billion initiative that focuses on supporting the mental health of young people in California. Additionally, there is a fee schedule program that pays public schools, colleges and community-based providers for mental health and substance use disorder services, according to DCHS.
Condit responded to Valentine’s question by suggesting residents contact their local officials about their concerns. He added, as a Newman resident himself, that the need for a hospital in the Westside could be resolved through the Del Puerto Healthcare District’s proposed 38.5-acre healthcare campus in central Patterson. On Dec. 8, 2025, the district board approved sending a detailed plan of the infrastructure to the City of Patterson for review.
“We’re in a desperate need out here in the Westside. We’re in a medical desert,” Condit said.
Abigail Watson, a junior at Orestimba, asked how students can have access to mental services when it's needed.
Imperial, in response to the question, reiterated his previous response on BHSA existing for young people. He added that the county's NAMI organization will meet with schools across the county in the future to educate students on the services provided and how they can use it to their advantage.
Condit praised OHS NAMI for “breaking up barriers and walls” around the stigma of mental health. He later encouraged everyone to check up on one another every once in a while.
“I think each of us can take responsibility and try to do our part to just check in with people. I think people are, again, fighting an invisible battle,” Condit said. “We have a duty to our neighbor to love thy neighbor. That’s the golden rule.”
Angel Clark, an OHS senior, asked what the county is doing to ensure crisis responses are focused and managed safely. In response to her question, Imperial said addressing the issue was one of his top priorities since taking over as the director of Behavioral and Services last year.
Last year, he spoke with multiple county police departments about having mental health clinicians, instead of law enforcement, going out on crisis line calls. So far this year, the clinicians have gone over to respond to a crisis call over 3,000 times, Imperial said.
“That’s the goal and that’s what we’re working on,” he said. “There are still some situations where we need law enforcement to be there.”
The forum ended with students from Orestimba’s NAMI chapter being recognized through a certificate ceremony. Amongst the individuals recognized was junior Tristan Gray, the president for OHS NAMI. Gray decided to get involved with the student chapter in freshman year after losing half his finger and going through “a toxic relationship,” he said. With the hopes of finding a support system. Gray met peers who he credited in helping him become “the person I wanted to be.”
He initially planned on being a part of the panel but felt too ill to do so.
Gray said he felt proud to see his fellow peers speaking on mental health issues locally. “These are people I watched grow over the course of the year,” he said. “They were able to handle the subject [and] it’s nice to see the growth of these people.”
