Dear Colleagues,
Greetings!
I am happy to report that we are wrapping up 2025 from a strong vantage point thanks to the hard work of our officers, executive committee, lobbyist, and administrator.
On October 23, 2025, we had a well-attended reception at the AACAP annual conference in Chicago. Over 150 attendees stopped by to share potential advocacy ideas, network, and make new connections. About one-third of these attendees were trainees who had questions about how to get involved in advocacy, and others who were considering a career in our great Golden State. Our early-career and mid-career colleagues enthusiastically enjoyed the company of their friends – former classmates and co-workers from different stages of their careers, while forging new alliances. It was really inspirational to see our seasoned colleagues provide pearls of wisdom about ways to navigate issues unique to our profession especially in the current climate. Overall, we ended up needing our allocated space for almost one hour beyond the original assigned time!
On November 15, 2025, despite the very heavy downpour, we held our Fall Advocacy Day at the Spice Affairs restaurant in Beverly Hills with 45 of us in attendance. We heard from 9 speakers, including the recipient of our Children’s Hero award, Assemblymember Dr Corey Jackson, who had a very thought-provoking presentation titled Generational Thriving. We had presentations from a CYBHI leadership team member who provided us updates, as well as trajectories expected for youth mental health for 2026. We heard from CMA medical student delegates as they shared current updates regarding youth health and challenged us to come up with potential youth mental health issues to be considered potentially by CMA. One of our seasoned colleagues provided us the impetus for thoughtful, bold, and determined advocacy for the current political climate. Two of our colleagues dealing with youth affected by current health policies (immigration/ICE and gender affirming care) provided us updates and ways to navigate. Our Lobbyist presented the CALACAP legislative updates, including the almost 80 bills that we reviewed and took a position on in this last legislative cycle. Then we had a brainstorming session where we identified areas we would like to focus on. These included our fragmented systems of care, need for safer digital spaces/responsible AI use, expanding the mental health workforce, improving telehealth, strengthening collaborative care, and supporting school-based mental health.
Attached are the links to the event:
Please consider getting involved through our current committees, Government Affairs and Advocacy (GAA) and Committee on Anti-Racism and Equity (CARE), or consider getting a new committee off the ground.
It is my hope that you can join us on Monday, May 11, 2026, for the Spring Advocacy Day at the Capitol. It is an opportunity to join our community of child and adolescent psychiatrists and our allies in advocating for youth mental health in California. Please watch for the registration details in the next 2-3 months!
For now, please find the time to enjoy the holiday season with your loved ones!
Sincerely,
Ijeoma Ijeaku, MD, MPH, DFAPA, DFAACAP
President, CALACAP | 
