January 19, 2024 - WASHINGTON - Rep. Josh Harder just introduced the Bring More Therapists to the Valley Act to combat the growing mental health crisis in San Joaquin County. The county has only 24 highly trained mental health professionals for every 100,000 people, making it the lowest ratio of providers to patients in California. This is relative to the state average of 56 for every 100,000 people. The disparity is especially acute as San Joaquin County’s 27,000 veterans are waiting months for an appointment and over 50% of the 144,000 public school students have reported increased anxiety, stress, and depression.

Rep. Harder’s new bill incentivizes therapists to live and work in San Joaquin County and would drastically increase mental health care services for the area. The bill expands student loan forgiveness for highly trained Marriage and Family Therapists (MFT) who practice in medically underserved areas. It expands the federal government’s narrow requirements which are preventing nearly 95% of MFTs in California from being eligible for loan forgiveness.

“Mental health is a massive issue right now for our community. Too many of our loved ones are suffering because they can’t get a mental health appointment, and the shortage of providers is hurting veterans and kids the most,” said Rep. Josh Harder. “It’s hard enough to ask for help, only to then be told there aren’t any therapists available to provide care. If we want more mental health therapists to practice here, we need to cut the unnecessary red tape and invite them in.”

This bill expands on the work Rep. Harder has done to bring more health professionals to San Joaquin County and the Central Valley at-large. This includes his work that’s set to bring 10,000 more doctors to the Valley within the next 10 years by expanding federal student loan forgiveness to California doctors and physicians, a cohort long excluded from the Public Student Loan Forgiveness program.

Full text of the bill can be found here.
Source: Congressman Josh Harder