Kaiser SCL Adult Mental Health Worker Strike Fund

Hi - my name is Melody Bumgardner, and I am a psychologist fundraising for the Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara Adult Mental Health Strike Fund. We are on strike to get better care for patients seeking mental health treatment at Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara. The current system is broken. Patients wait weeks to months for therapy appointments. We need better working conditions to provide the timely care patients need and deserve. We have been negotiating with Kaiser Permanente management for over a year and have made almost no progress toward improving the situation. Clinics are chronically understaffed because caseloads are so large and unmanageable that Kaiser Permanente cannot retain current staff or attract more talented therapists. This strike is a last resort to motivate Kaiser Permanente management to negotiate in good faith for substantive improvements. We need these funds to offset strike costs and sustain our union members during this challenging time.