The crisis in adolescent mental health was highlighted in 2021 bulletins from the Surgeons General of California and the United States. Even before COVID, the incidence of adolescent major depression, suicidal ideation, and emergency room visits was on the rise. The profound death toll, sense of fear, economic disruption, and social isolation exacerbated the unprecedented stresses facing American youth. Communities of color were particularly hard hit by the twin pandemics of COVID-19 and systemic racism. Public school systems in Los Angeles struggle daily with mental health crises for individual students and with their cumulative impact on the learning environment. In 2018-19 there were 7,661 incidents of suicidal ideation on campuses in the L.A. Unified School District alone.

The School Behavioral Health Incentive Program (SBHIP) provided the opportunity for Medi-Cal health plans to earn implement programming to help address this crisis. This CHIP project aimed to improve access to mental health services for children and adolescents in school districts across L.A. County. L.A. Care Health Plan collaborated with Health Net and the L.A. County Office of Education to plan, pilot, and implement a $24 million project to bring telehealth services to students in multiple L.A. County school districts.