CARE Court and the Patients Behind the Policy

California State Senator Tom Umberg sat down with TNT Fellowships Director Dr. Robert McCarron to discuss his personal and legislative commitment to mental health reform in California. Umberg — a former prosecutor with lived experience of “wondering where our loved one was at 3 in the morning” — spoke candidly about the failures of past mental health policy, particularly the underfunded shift from state hospitals to community care that left many people homeless and untreated. He walked through his work on CARE Court, a model that puts a judge in charge of holding counties accountable for providing housing, structure, and behavioral health support to people with severe mental illness. The conversation ranged from substance use treatment philosophy to the alarming rise of suicidal ideation among elementary school children, with both speakers agreeing that education — of clinicians, teachers, and the public — is where the real traction lies.