by Juliane Matignas
Perry Chen, Blue Shield of California | Photo credit: Vita Vivet Film Productions and California School Based Health Alliance
One in five American adolescents has a diagnosed mental or behavioral state of health, according to the 2023 National Survey of Children’s Health. This represents more than 5.3 million adolescents confronted with challenges such as anxiety, depression or other behavioral conditions – problems that lead to academic struggles, absenteeism and difficulty or the holding of friends.
To respect this crisis, partnerships in schools are becoming one of the most effective solutions. The integration of mental and behavioral health services directly into schools ensures that care is accessible, timely and connected to the daily life of a young person.
This approach was at the center of the school health conference in 2025, organized in April by the California School Based Health Alliance. The theater “The power of partnerships”, the event brought together more than 800 educators, clinicians, defenders and political decision-makers to share strategies that prioritize the health and well-being of young people thanks to collaboration.
Blue Shield of California, a proud sponsor of the conference, highlighted his Bluesky Young mental health initiative. Launched in 2019, Bluesky works to increase access to care and support adults working with young people. To date, Bluesky has supported more than 20,000 young people and educators with therapy, training and advocacy programs for young people.
“We believe that investment in health health is investing in the future – guarantee that each child has access to the care they need to learn, grow and prosper,” said Perry Chendirector corporate citizenship to Blue Shield of California, who moderated a conference session on the event, entitled Use the power of partnerships to move the needle on the main challenges. “When we take care of the health of our students, we invest in the promise of tomorrow.”
Thomas Tran, Blue Shield Promised and Ron Tanimura, Lausd
Work together to extend medi-calt access to Los Angeles
A remarkable collaboration discussed during the conference is between Blue Shield health plan Promised And Los Angeles Unified School District (Lausd), an alliance that extends access to Medi-Cal and other health-related services for students and their families. The second largest district in the country, Lausd covers 710 square miles and serves more than 400,000 students – more than half of which qualify for Medi -Cal. The district receives more than $ 50 million per year in Medi-Cal funding, supporting a wide range of physical health services with mental and behavioral care.
Blue Shield Promised works with the district to facilitate access to families and maintain medical coverage by an effort to raise awareness and registration coordinated. This includes:
- 13 support sites where families can obtain help in person to request or renew medical advantages
- More than 30 qualified registration assistants offering a medium by phone or face to face
In addition, collaboration connects families to housing, food and emotional support services. The value of this network was particularly obvious when forest fires hit the County of Los Angeles in January. Blue Shield Promised and Lausd mobilized staff, delivered emergency supplies and connected families to critical rescue resources.
“These strategic alliances between health centers in schools and Medi-Cal programs, such as Blue Shield promised, are more important than ever,” said Thomas Tran, director of strategic partnerships at Blue Shield Promised. “We work together to take advantage and optimize the work we already do to better serve students and families with all their needs.”
Learn more about Blue Shield Promise News here.
Find out more about Blue Shield of California’s Bluesky Program here.