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The short version: in California, once you're 12, you can say yes to your own therapy. Not your parents — you. Two laws say so, and they say the same thing: a therapist has to agree you are mature enough to take part, and that is now the only condition.¹ It used to be harder — until July 2024 the Family Code also required that you would be in serious danger without the help, or that someone had abused you. That requirement was repealed.² If you read somewhere that you have to be in danger to say yes to your own therapy, that page is out of date.

What that actually means

You can talk to a school counselor, call a clinic, or email a therapist yourself. Nobody needs a permission slip. What you say stays between you and the therapist — they'll try to bring your parents in only if it would help you, and mostly with you in the room deciding how. The big exceptions, told to you up front: if you're in serious danger, or someone is hurting you, they act to keep you safe. That's protection, not punishment.

"But who pays?" — the part everyone worries about

Real answers: school counselors and school-linked therapy are free. Many community clinics see teens on sliding scales that go very low or to $0. If your family has Medi-Cal, you're covered — and since July 2024, teens on Medi-Cal have exactly the same consent rights as everyone else, which was the whole point of the change.² Your parents are not liable for the bill for care you consented to, unless they take part in it themselves.³ And if a plan is paying, the paperwork for mental health care has to be addressed to you, not to the policyholder — but it still goes to whatever address the plan has on file until you give it a different one, which takes one phone call.⁵ Exactly what to say →

How to actually start (pick the easiest one)

  1. School counselor — say "I want to talk to someone regularly." They know every free option near you.
  2. Text or call 988 if things are heavy right now — free, 24/7, nobody's told.
  3. A clinic near you — call and say: "I'm [age]. I'd like to start therapy under minor consent. What do I need to do?" They've heard it before. It's a normal call to them.

And if you want a parent involved but don't know how to start that conversation — a therapist can literally help you plan it. That's allowed too. You don't have to pick between privacy and support.

Q&A

Q: Can I see a therapist without my parents knowing in California? A: At 12 or older, yes — Family Code §6924 and Health & Safety Code §124260 let a minor consent to their own outpatient therapy if the attending professional finds them mature enough to take part. Records of care you consented to yourself are records your parents are not entitled to see.⁴ School counselors, sliding-scale clinics and Medi-Cal make it free or nearly free.

More on how privacy works: Will my therapist tell my parents? → · If a parent has put you in a hospital →

The school counselor has a confidentiality statute of their own, with six exceptions. Can a school counselor tell my parents? →

In crisis? Call or text 988 — free, 24/7.

Sources

  1. Health & Safety Code §124260(b)(1) and Family Code §6924(b) — 12 or older, and "mature enough to participate intelligently" — leginfo.legislature.ca.gov and leginfo.legislature.ca.gov.
  2. AB 665 (Stats. 2023, Ch. 338), which repealed and re-added Family Code §6924: effective 1 January 2024, operative 1 July 2024 by §6924(g). The repealed §6924(b)(2) had required danger of serious harm or that the minor be an alleged victim of incest or child abuse. Welfare & Institutions Code §14029.8 switches §124260 off for Medi-Cal, which is why the Family Code version is the one that matters there.
  3. Family Code §6924(e); Health & Safety Code §124260(d). Neither section lets you consent to psychiatric medication, convulsive therapy or psychosurgery without a parent — §6924(f), §124260(e).
  4. Health & Safety Code §123115(a)(1) and (a)(3) — "the representative of a minor" (which includes a parent) "shall not be entitled to inspect or obtain copies of the minor's patient records, including clinical notes," for care the minor lawfully consented to — leginfo.legislature.ca.gov.
  5. Civil Code §56.107(a)(3) — a health care service plan "shall direct all communications regarding a protected individual's receipt of sensitive services directly to the protected individual receiving care," at the address on file unless an alternative is designated under subdivision (b); the parallel for insurance-company policies is Insurance Code §791.29 — california.public.law.

All sections read on the operative text on 18 August 2026.

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