The California bill targets the mental health of youth exposed to gun violence

from Ana B. IbarraCalMatters

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When Jazelle Eastman was 16, she was shot in the face by a boy she thought was a friend. She doesn’t remember feeling much, but the next thing she felt was blood dripping from her chin.

That was two years ago. She still has a hard time trusting people. “PTSD is so real that I feel like I’m always looking over my shoulder,” she said.

During her hospital stay, a social worker connected Eastman with a psychiatrist. At first she hesitated; therapy is not something you would seek out on your own. Now she sees the benefit: “Talking to someone made it so much better,” she said.

However, this is not the experience of every young survivor. Nationally, only 37 percent of children received mental health services within six months of a gunshot wound, according to a 2023 survey published in the American Academy of Pediatrics. For some young survivors, help never arrives.

California lawmakers want to change that. Assembly Bill 2247 requires counties and the state to provide and pay for mental health services and counseling for youth survivors of gun violence, regardless of their social security status.

The bill would create a pilot program in Alameda, Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Solano counties funded by state grants. Any young person affected by gun violence – whether they’ve been shot, witnessed a shooting or lost a family member – will be eligible for free services up to the age of 25.

Eastman had invited a group of friends over for a sleepover at her home in Vallejo. She remembers being on her phone when a boy got up from the living room floor where she was sleeping. She doesn’t know exactly why he shot her; she thinks it was on purpose that he got mad at her for being too loud that morning. He claimed it was an accident.

“I never thought that trying to get together with my friends would lead to something so bad,” she said.

The care gap

In 2020, firearms surpassed motor vehicle crashes as the leading cause of death among children and adolescents in the country. Researchers estimate that for every death there are at least two survivors of firearm injuries.

In California, approx 2000 young people 25 and younger have died or been hospitalized from gunshot injuries each year since 2016, according to the California Department of Public Health. This includes suicides. California does though the fifth lowest youth firearm mortality in the country.

“It’s very clear that violence, and gun violence in particular, is important in young people’s lives,” said Nicole Kravitz-Wirtz, an associate professor at the Center for Violence Prevention at UC Davis. Research shows that the trauma of gun violence can be especially devastating to young people who are still developing mentally and emotionally, leading to PTSD, anxiety, depression, hypervigilance, sleep disturbances, grief, substance use and suicidal thoughts.

Yet many survivors and their families remain without timely help. Some people do not trust the health care system. Others may not even know where to begin. Connecting with mental health care is not easy, even for those who try. People with medical coverage report having to wait months to find a therapist who works for them, and those without coverage may not even try because they can’t afford a consultation.

Tinish Hollins, executive director of Californians for Safety and Justice, an advocacy organization sponsoring the bill, said it “caused a lot of families to opt out of the process.”

In California, victims of abuse may be eligible for state compensation that they can use to help pay for therapy, but navigating the system is difficult and not all victims are eligible. Eastman applied twice and never heard back.

Hollins said the latest bill aims to remove costs and insurance barriers. It would also lead counties to standardize how they connect victims to services and encourage greater counseling of victims and their families.

Hollins said the legislation is also a direct response to the disproportionate impact of gun violence on black and Hispanic communities. In California, 78 percent of youths who were killed or hospitalized due to gunshot injuries between 2016 and 2024 were black or Hispanic, state data show.

Bill, but no funding

Hospitals, counties and other care providers lack a consistent standard for connecting young survivors to mental health care after a shooting.

It’s not enough to give a person a referral for counseling and expect them to follow it while in survival mode, Kravitz-Wirtz said.

“Services for young people affected by gun violence are too often fragmented,” she said. “Young people often leave the hospital after a shooting with treated physical injuries … but no clear path to ongoing mental health.”

Some hospitals have trauma intervention and recovery models, but they are not universally or consistently available. Youth Alive!, the organization that provides free therapy to Eastman, is one. Rhea Corson-Higgs, a mental health counselor there, works with youth survivors of violent trauma in the Bay Area. In the group model, a social worker connects youth with a counselor before they are discharged from the hospital. This counselor goes to their home and provides trauma-informed therapy, prioritizing safety and trust. But her program always has a waiting list, she said.

Even if the legislation is passed, one key challenge remains: There is no money behind it. Ashley Anderson, Spokesperson for Member of the Assembly Sade ElkhavariThe Los Angeles Democrat who authored the bill said her office is still trying to find a funding source.

An analysis of the bill estimates that providing the subsidies to counties would cost $7,800 per person per year. The Assembly Fiscal Committee narrowed the scope of the bill, replacing its statewide requirement with a four-county pilot project. On Tuesday, the Assembly approved the legislation and it now heads to the Senate for debate.

Finding Help and “Freedom”

Earlier this month, Eastman traveled to Sacramento to advocate for the bill, joining dozens of survivors and families of those killed. After a short march, those in attendance gathered in Capitol Park, where around a stage they put up posters and banners with pictures of the victims and messages: “Never Forgotten” and “Forever 18.”

Today, Eastman is able to share her story publicly in large part because of therapy.

Bridget Montoya was also there. She grew up in Pacoima, in the San Fernando Valley; a decade or more ago, gang activity there was commonplace. When she was 21 years old, she was hit by two bullets – one in the head and one in the thigh. She was in a coma for about a week and in the hospital for 28 days. A bullet remains lodged in the right back of her head. Fragments of the gunshot in her thigh prevent her from walking.

It was two years before he saw a therapist. She wants others to have an easier path. “Going to therapy gave me a sense of relief and a sense of freedom,” she said.

James Michael, 20, was shot in the leg while attending a house party in Oakland two years ago. At the hospital, before even seeing a doctor, he said law enforcement questioned him aggressively as if he had anything to do with the shooting. He remembers being really angry.

He thought twice about therapy, but decided to give it a try. There he met Corson-Higgs at Youth Alive!, whom he credits with helping him overcome his anger. As he retrained his left leg to walk, he also regained his confidence.

Therapy, he said, “has shown me that life is still beautiful, no matter what you’re going through.”

Supported by the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), which works to ensure that people have access to the care they need, when they need it, at a cost they can afford. Visit www.chcf.org to learn more.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.