Kaiser, Don't Deny

Five-week waits between therapy appointments disrupts continuity of care

I have tried accessing Kaiser mental healthcare since 2018. The first time I did an intake at Kaiser I was immediately sent to Beacon because wait times for a therapist were three months. Connecting with therapy in 2019, appointments were five weeks apart and my provider would even be 10-15 minutes late. It was hard to focus on treatment with that frequency. It’s like I had to remind my therapist what I was facing. It’s hard to have any sense of continuity in care. It made it so frustrating that I didn’t even want to use mental health services while experiencing postpartum depression. Now I am only accessing psychiatry services and haven’t even attempted reconnecting with the therapy services. Another time I was sent to Beacon, they could not support me after four months of advocacy and returned to Kaiser where I had to restart the intake process. Kaiser mental healthcare care is poorly funded and managed. Please create standards for case ratio and racial diversity.

Kristine
San Bruno