Dear Friend,

We’re in a mental health crisis, and everyone deserves the care they need
when they need it. But Kaiser Permanente is failing us, and it’s time to
step up in solidarity with striking clinicians fighting for better care.

More than 2,000 mental health therapists, psychologists, and social
workers at Kaiser Permanente in Northern California are now in the second
week of an open-ended strike to make Kaiser fix a mental health system so
broken that many patients wait months just to start therapy.[[ [link removed] ]1] This
strike is the culmination of more than decade of activism by unionized
therapists who have repeatedly blown the whistle on Kaiser for violating
mental health access laws and clinical standards of care.[[ [link removed] ]2]

Right now, Kaiser isn’t just taking a hard line against its therapists;
it’s breaking state law by refusing to provide care for its patients
during the strike. Kaiser’s official plan for maintaining mental health
services during the strike has been to rely on managers and 50 to 100
scabs.[[ [link removed] ]3] Thousands of appointments have been canceled and patients are
enduring even longer waits than before the strike.

The future of mental health care in California is at stake. Therapists are
striking to make Kaiser finally meet the mental health needs of its 9.4
million members in California. Here’s how we can help them win and stand
in solidarity:

 1. Contribute to the [ [link removed] ]NUHW Strike Fund to provide critical and direct
financial support to striking mental health clinicians.
 2. Sign their [ [link removed] ]Support Petition demanding Kaiser fully staff its
clinics and meet the needs of its patients. 
 3. Follow and share their fight on [ [link removed] ]Twitter, [ [link removed] ]Facebook
and [ [link removed] ]Instagram.
 4. Join them on the [ [link removed] ]picket line. 
 5. If you’ve had a bad experience with Kaiser’s mental health services or
can’t get services during the strike, [ [link removed] ]share your story with their
union and Courage partner, the National Union of Healthcare Workers.
The more people who step forward, the more pressure on Kaiser to stop
underfunding mental health care.
 6. Don’t let Kaiser get away with canceling appointments or delaying care
during the strike. File a complaint with California Department of
Managed Health Care (DMHC) by phone at 1-888-466-2219 or [ [link removed] ]file a
complaint online.

Patients can’t afford to wait for care. Stand in solidarity with striking
NUHW clinicians in demanding Kaiser fully staff and support mental health
care services.

Yours in the fight for equitable health care,

Irene, along with Amber, Angela, Annie, Isidra, Jay, Lindsay, LisaMarie,
Mai, Mai, Raquel, and Scottie (the Courage PAC team) 

 

Footnotes:

1. [ [link removed] ][link removed]

2. [ [link removed] ][link removed]

3. [ [link removed] ][link removed]



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Courage California (formerly Courage Campaign) makes sure our democracy works for ALL of us by fighting corruption in California politics. We believe the solution lies in exposing and solving systemic problems through strategic organizing, enhancing coordination between progressive organizations, and mobilizing civic engagement from our communities, particularly voters of color, young voters, and self-identified progressives.

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