05/05/2026
Greetings MHCAN Family!
Not having the Mental Health Client Action Network since August of last year has been a tremendous loss for our community. We know that many of you depended on it as a place where you could find both community and resources. It is devastating that the doors were closed so abruptly and that they remain closed right now.
After months of uncertainty, a new MHCAN board formed in March. Since then, we have been working together to prepare to re-open MHCAN as a stronger, more stable organization. We hope we can do so by the end of the summer, but the exact timeline is still uncertain.
The board is working on several objectives simultaneously that must be achieved prior to reopening. One priority is getting MHCAN’s financial affairs in order, including paying outstanding debts and back taxes. We are also working to obtain liability insurance, without which we cannot run our program. Another on-going effort is to address deferred maintenance issues so that the building is once again safe to occupy. There is a lot to do, but as a board, we are making steady progress.
Beyond these activities, we have been meeting with representatives of the Clubhouse International model. This model aligns perfectly with MHCAN’s mission and activities. It has the potential to help MHCAN meet international standards for peer services. Furthermore, it will open an array of funding opportunities that we will need to sustain MHCAN over time. The board’s hope is that MHCAN will become an accredited Clubhouse program. The governance structures of Clubhouse programs vary widely, but the board is committed to ensuring that MHCAN will always be peer owned and operated.
The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors and County Behavioral Health are supportive of our board’s efforts. They are collaborating closely with us, and they have agreed to carry funding from this year into next, which will give us the opportunity to relaunch a small program. In the next few months, we anticipate conducting an Executive Director search and hiring a small staff. As time goes on, we will seek grants to expand personnel and increase programming. Part of our agreement with the county is that we will prioritize those peers who are receiving services from County Behavioral Health. This requirement aligns with the board’s commitment to open MHCAN with services focused on mental health recovery. We aim to do so by prioritizing support groups and one-to-one peer support, while also continuing to offer drop-in space and access to computers.
We are deeply grateful that so many of you have offered to help. We will be taking you up on those offers as soon as we have the structure in place to do so. Please watch this page over the next few months where we will post requests for your input, descriptions of committee openings, and job announcements. Re-establishing MHCAN’s services will depend on the whole peer community working together.
We look forward to the day the doors open and we welcome one another once again to our healing peer community.
Sincerely,
Board Members: Adrian Bernard (chair), Betsy Clark, Nick Bodsky, Suzanne Koebler, Tracy Kennedy & Yana Jacobs
