COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH FOR ALL

Painted Brain creates lasting, community-based solutions to mental health challenges and the impact of social injustice through arts, advocacy, and enterprise.

If you are experiencing a crisis or need immediate assistance, please call 911, contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988, or go to the nearest emergency room.

Need Assistance?

Fill out this form and we can help match you to the care and resources you need

CLICK HERE

  • Our Moment Together Has Come: The Seat at the Table Gala Is Here

    View Details

  • Become a Medi-Cal Peer Support Specialist Limited Spots Available!

    Learn more

Our Four Core Services

1.Peer Support & Care Services

Our team can help you find the support you need.

  • 1-on-1 help from peers who understand

  • Group wellness workshops where you can learn and share

  • Linkages to housing, benefits, and other services such as Enhanced Care Management and Project New start

  • Guidance to find the right care so you don’t feel lost

Get support that meets you where you are. Our team can help with care coordination, therapy, case management, and connecting you to resources like housing, benefits, and healthcare.

2. Community Wellness, Arts, & Recovery

A place to connect and create.

  • Art, writing, and creative groups

  • Peer-led wellness activities

  • A safe community where you can relax, share, and make friends

Come join our groups! From art workshops to wellness classes, Painted Brain’s community center is a safe and welcoming space to connect, learn, and heal.

View Schedule

3. Peer Workforce Development & Career Pathways

You can turn your story into strength.

  • Talk to peers (people who have been through it too)

  • Get training to become a Certified Peer Support Specialist

  • Learn skills to find a job and help others

Learn how to turn your lived experience into leadership. Our peer training programs can help you become a certified peer support specialist, gain new skills, and find a career helping others.

View Our Courses

4.Advocacy & Systems Change

Your voice is powerful.

  • Speak up about what you need

  • Work with us to improve the mental health system

  • Create a Psychiatric Advance Directive (a plan that tells doctors what kind of care you want)

  • Help build a better future for everyone

Your voice matters. Painted Brain helps you get involved in advocacy, civic engagement, and leadership so you can make a difference in your community.

Our Partners

Let’s Redefine Mental Health

Mental health challenges often lead to isolation, making recovery harder. At Painted Brain, we break this cycle through peer support and lived experience, creating Communities, Careers, and Creative expression. Together, we transform challenges into opportunities for meaningful connection and fulfilled lives.

What our community is saying…

  • "Like many folks across the world, I sought community and connection after experiencing some life-changing events. Painted Brain provided me with tools to tend to some parts of my health that needed care."

    Ezekial Goodwin, Creatives in Resicence Program Alumni

  • “Painted Brain is transforming lives and supporting our advocacy efforts on multiple projects to improve the quality of care and protecting the agency of those living with mental health challenges to get the adequate care they need to establish recovery.”

    Christopher Schneiders, Director of The Saks InsTitute

  • “Painted Brain has been a great support for our clients, helping them feel valued, build community, socialize and engage positively and grow in their independence through group leadership opportunities. We are grateful for their partnership.”

    Dr. Kristen Ochoa

  • “Connections to others and a sense of belonging is vital and essential to the recovery process. Painted Brain has provided exactly such an important connection and creative arts community, using the commonality of mental illness, for over ten years. Painted Brain has been of tremendous value to many Step Up members during that time.”

    Tod Lipka, CEO of Step Up

  • "The struggle is never over but the Painted Brain peer support training helped me to turn the struggle into a strength."

    Edward Cervantes, Peer Support Graduate

Painted Brain earned a Candid Gold Seal of Transparency! Stay up to date on our impact through our nonprofit profile.

Let’s Stay in Touch.

If you are experiencing a crisis or need immediate assistance, please call 911, contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988, or go to the nearest emergency room.

Got more to say?

Contact us.