Your rights
California wrote deadlines and protections into law. These guides turn them into scripts you can say out loud.
In the hospital
- What is a 5150 hold?
- The 72 hours are up. Can they keep me?
- Can they medicate me against my will on a psychiatric hold?
- Can they give me ECT without my consent?
- Can a psychiatric unit restrain me or put me in seclusion?
- Who is the patients' rights advocate?
- The hospital won't tell me anything. Now what?
- Who looks after my kids if I'm hospitalized?
- Can the hospital discharge me to the street?
If something went wrong with a therapist
How do I report a therapist in California?
Complaints are free, can be filed by anyone, and go to the licensing board — which can discipline a licence but cannot get your money back.
YOUR RIGHTSMy therapist crossed a sexual line
A crime with consent no defense, grounds to lose the licence, and a civil claim for two years after therapy ends. The statutes, and the brochure you are owed.
YOUR RIGHTSCan I sue my therapist? The deadlines and the caps
One year from discovery, three years at most, a 90-day notice before filing, and a cap on pain-and-suffering damages that rises every January. The statutes.
More California rights
A work-caused mental health claim in California
Stress, depression and PTSD from work are compensable — behind a threshold built on purpose. The six-month rule, the causation test, and the exceptions.
PRINTABLE WORKSHEETAsk for an ADHD accommodation at work in California
A printable California worksheet to map an ADHD job barrier, choose an effective accommodation, write the request and brief a health provider.
HOW CALIFORNIA WORKSCalifornia rewrote how counties spend mental health money. It took effect six weeks ago.
Proposition 1 passed by 26,223 votes and became operative 1 July 2026. Thirty per cent of county money now goes to housing. What changed in your county.
CRISISGetting help in a crisis without calling the police
California counties must run a 24/7 mobile crisis team you can call instead of 911 — but there is no statewide number, and no right to refuse a police response.
KIDS & TEENSIf your child has Medi-Cal, the rules are not the adult rules
No diagnosis required, no session limits allowed, and services must be covered even when the state plan does not cover them for adults.
LANGUAGE & ACCESSNobody should have to bring their own interpreter to therapy
Interpretation is free at every point of contact, your plan must offer one even when a relative is present, and a minor may interpret only in an emergency.
FAMILIESSomeone you love won't get help. What California actually lets you do.
Three legal routes exist and none is forced medication. Who can petition, the affidavit families do not know they need, and the one most actually need.
APPEALSThe free appeal that overturns three out of four therapy denials
An IMR costs nothing, is decided by doctors outside your plan, and binds the plan. In mental health cases the state's own data shows 77% are overturned.
VETERANSThe veteran's doors that need no enrollment, no diagnosis, and no service connection
Vet Centers ask for no enrollment and no service-connected disability. Suicide-crisis care is free even at a non-VA hospital.
SCHOOLWhen anxiety or depression is wrecking school: 504 plan, IEP, or both
Both routes are real and work differently. The one with enforceable deadlines is not the one most parents are steered toward — and a verbal ask counts.
TIME OFFYes, you can take paid leave from work for your mental health in California
California pays 70–90% of your wages during mental health leave (SDI) and protects your job (CFRA). Who qualifies, real dollar math, and the steps.
WORKYou do not have to tell your employer your diagnosis
California requires only that a condition limits a major life activity, not that it substantially limits one — and you do not have to name the diagnosis.
REENTRYYou do not lose Medi-Cal in jail — and care can start before you walk out
Since 2023, Medi-Cal is suspended rather than terminated, and a reentry benefit can start up to 90 days before release.
TIMELY ACCESSYou have a legal right to a therapy appointment within 10 business days
California law caps therapy waits at 10 business days — first appointments and follow-ups both. The statute, and the sentence that stops a plan stalling.
INSURANCEYour employer self-funds the plan. Here is what you actually have.
California's timely-access law and state IMR do not reach a self-funded employer plan. Federal law gives you a 72-hour urgent appeal and a binding review.