May 15, 2025

CHCF Alumni at Large!

In this edition of the CHCF Alumni Newsletter, we are excited to share the inspiring updates and remarkable work of our alumni!

• Elizabeth Morrison (C11) - The Lay Counselor Academy
• Evan Raff (C22) - Transforming Speciality Care Access

Each story reflects the dedication and passion of our community members as they strive to advance health care and enhance community health outcomes.

We invite you to engage with these vibrant updates, celebrating the collective impact the CHCF alumni are making together!

Have a story or update please share! [link]

Elizabeth Morrison PhD, LCSW, Cohort 11, CEO & Co-Creator of the Lay Counselor Academy

The Lay Counselor Academy (LCA) is an innovative program that trains community members to provide mental health counseling without requiring formal degrees or licenses. Co-created by Elizabeth Morrison (Cohort 11) and Alli Moreno, the LCA has made significant strides in expanding access to mental health care, particularly in underserved communities.

Supported by a recent evaluation from the California Health Care Foundation, the findings provide valuable insights, demonstrating that LCA's community-driven approach can enhance access to high quality, culturally concordant mental healthcare.

Empowering a Diverse Mental Health Workforce

One of the LCA's most exciting achievements is its contribution to increasing diversity in the mental health workforce. By training individuals from varied cultural and linguistic backgrounds (such as CHWs, Case Manager, Health Navigators, etc) the LCA helps bridge the gap between communities and mental health professionals. Mental healthcare for the community, by the community!

Building Practical Counseling Expertise

Graduates of the LCA leave with significant and lasting gains in their ability to deliver evidence-based mental health counseling, including enhanced abilities in developing and maintaining the therapeutic alliance (the foundation of all positive health outcomes in mental healthcare), motivational interviewing, behavioral activation and CBT-informed approaches, and providing care for trauma, anxiety, depression, and substance use.

Enhancing Job Satisfaction and Retention

LCA enhances the professional lives of its graduates. By increasing job satisfaction, the academy helps organizations retain skilled individuals who are deeply committed to their work. This is particularly important for organizations that prioritize employee well-being and recognize the value of fostering fulfilling careers in the mental health field.

Celebrating Success and Looking Ahead

The recent evaluation of the Lay Counselor Academy highlights the program’s effectiveness and the positive impact it has had on both participants and the communities they serve. The results validate the importance of this initiative and reaffirm that community-based training models are an essential part of expanding mental health care. As awareness and need for mental health services continue to grow, the LCA offers a promising pathway toward accessible, culturally concordant care.

For more details on the executive summary and the full evaluation, visit here.

Evan Raff, MD, MHA, Cohort 22, Director, Specialty Care,

Los Angeles County Department of Health Services

Public health systems across California face a persistent challenge: ensuring timely access to specialty care for underserved populations, especially for vulnerable patients with cancer. At the CAPH SNI Learning and Support Webinar on March 25 titled “Cancer Navigation: Closing the Specialty Care Access Gap”, Dr. Evan Raff (Cohort 22) shared insights and progress from his CHIP project, Beyond Access: Achieving the Quintuple Aim in Specialty Care Delivery. The presentation showcased how the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (LA Health Services) has transformed its specialty care delivery system to improve access, coordination, and patient outcomes.

LA Health Services has implemented several key interventions to streamline specialty care access, including a universal eConsult system that facilitates real-time communication between primary care providers and specialists; a centralized scheduling process to increase timely appointment rates; and advanced data analytics to further enhance coordination by identifying delays and optimizing specialty care capacity.

One program that grew out of this work is LA Health Services’ Cancer Navigation Program, which has navigated nearly 3,000 patients since its launch in May 2022. By embedding trained oncology medical case workers and social work supervisors into clinical teams, the program ensures that every patient receives timely, personalized support. The impact has been striking: the average time from diagnosis to first clinical visit has dropped from over 14 days to under 7 days, meeting national cancer care standards. Additionally, treatment initiation times have improved from over 70 days to 44 days, ensuring patients receive care within critical windows.

Beyond improving access, the program addresses psychosocial barriers that often prevent patients from completing treatment. Standardized distress screenings revealed that 37% of navigated patients reported high distress, but targeted interventions led to measurable reductions in anxiety—helping patients stay engaged in their care.

These lessons extend beyond oncology. LA Health Services is now applying its navigation model to chronic conditions like kidney disease and diabetes, while expanding specialty care coordination across its network. For California’s public health leaders, this approach offers a scalable, data-driven framework to reduce disparities, improve outcomes, and optimize specialty care delivery in the safety net.

A recording of the presentation is available here or may be accessed via the SNI Link (registration required).