Caminar Connections: September 2024

Caminar's 60th Anniversary Celebration!

Please join us for our
60th Anniversary
In Celebration with Caminar!
Saturday, Oct 5, 2024 | 6 - 9:30 pm
Hotel Nia, Menlo Park

This year, Caminar celebrates 60 years of providing quality, compassionate, and effective behavioral health care for the most vulnerable members of our Northern California communities.

Caminar began with El Camino House in San Mateo, designed to provide transitional supported housing for people returning to the community following a psychiatric hospitalization. In the first year, 41 clients were served.

Over the last 60 years, Caminar proudly evolved and expanded into what it is today: a thriving community-based mental health, substance use, and supportive services provider across six counties that served over 31,000 individuals last year.

As we look to the next 60+ years, we remain committed to providing evidence-based, whole-person mental health and substance use treatment services that support individuals and communities across Northern California in their pursuit of stability and fulfillment.

Join us as we celebrate Caminar's past, present, and future!

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Expressive Arts Exhibition and Reception: Join us!

Caminar's Expressive Arts program, featuring teaching artists Michael Collopy and Maikel Garcia, brings the therapeutic power of the arts to clients in our San Mateo County residential homes. Michael Collopy, a world-renowned photographer, and Maikel Garcia, a well-known Cuban jazz musician, bring art, music, humor, and joy to clients experiencing and recovering from behavioral health conditions. The workshops present art, writing, and music as positive coping mechanisms, focusing on how creative expression can promote long-term mental wellness.

With special thanks to the Burlingame Library, we are delighted to exhibit extraordinary works of art by Caminar clients.

Please join us on Thursday, September 12, to experience the exhibit and enjoy a reception to celebrate the art, our artists, and the program! Please RSVP here.

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Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano: Food and Fun Support Mental Health at Caminar

The Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano recently highlighted the long-standing partnership with our Wellness and Recovery Center (WRC) in Solano. In-kind donations from the Food Bank are an essential part of the support the WRC provides to our clients, and Caminar and our clients are so very grateful for the partnership and generosity.

We invite you to enjoy the feature, Food and fun support mental health at Caminar.

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Staff Highlight: Drishti Verma, Caminar Substance Use Treatment Services Executive Director and BHCA Treasurer

Drishti Verma, MA, LAADC, Executive Director of Substance Use Treatment Services at Caminar, also serves as the Behavioral Health Contractors Association (BHCA) Treasurer.

The BHCA is a Santa Clara County-wide network of community-based, non-profit organizations that provides essential mental health and substance use prevention, treatment, recovery, and supportive transitional housing services to children, adolescents, and adults under contract with the county's Behavioral Health Services Department.

We are grateful for Drishti's tireless leadership and commitment to Caminar's clients and the greater community!

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FY2022-2023 Impact Report

We recently published our Fiscal Year 2022-2023 Impact Report. and invite you to review it if you haven't already.

Thank you for your ongoing support of Caminar, our clients, and our mission!

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Recent Educational and Thought Leadership Resources