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Behavioral Health Board

The Behavioral Health Board of the County of Santa Clara is composed of members of the community at large, clients and family members of clients of the behavioral health system. The board’s mission and duties are established in the Welfare & Institutions Code 5604.2 and county law (see Chapter VII, Sections A18 – 141 and A18 - 142). The duties include: review and evaluation of the community’s behavioral health needs, facilities and special problems; advising the Board of Supervisors and the County behavioral health director as to any aspect of the County behavioral health program; and, submitting an annual report to the Board of Supervisors on the needs and performance of the County’s Behavioral Health System.

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Behavioral Health Board

The County of Santa Clara Behavioral Health Board (BHB) has three open seats. District 3 has two vacancies for either a consumer of mental health services or family member of a person who is receiving or has received mental health services. District 5 has one vacancy under the family category.

If you are interested in serving, please review the Behavioral Health Board Bylaws document and visit the Clerk of the Board website to apply. Your application will remain on file for 2 years from the date of submission.

BHB

Members

Sigrid Pinsky - BHB

Sigrid Pinsky

Chair

Professionally, Sigrid has sixteen years of experience in law firm administration, including positions as Legal Assistant Administrator.

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Anne Baumgarten - BHB

Anne Baumgarten

First Vice Chair

Anne has been a consumer of mental health services since 1978. She had a severe injury in 1971 and as a result had a psychological crisis. She is also the parent of a son who was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder 1 in 2004 at the age of 19.

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Patti Andrade - BHB

Patti Andrade

Second Vice-Chair

Patti Andrade has been a lifelong resident of the Bay Area and is married with 3 children. She graduated from Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont, CA with her Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy and Political Science.

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Candice DeCou - BHB

Candace DeCou

Member

Candace brings both lived experience as a family member and consumer to the Behavioral Health Board. She is a single mother of two children, both of whom have experienced addiction.

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David Cortright - BHB

David Cortright

Member

Dave has lived experience with chronic anxiety and depression. He is a certified professional coach (New Ventures West), a trained crisis counselor (Crisis Text Line), a peer mentor (NAMI), and a compassionate listener (7 Cups).

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David Tran  - BHB

David Tran

Member

David is a San José native with robust experience in community and non-profit development in San Jose and Washington DC.

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Frank Alioto - BHB

Frank Alioto

Member

Frank Alioto has been a resident of Santa Clara County’s District 5 (Los Gatos) for over 35 years. He left a career in broadcasting and broadcast related businesses to move to the Silicon Valley from Boston to join ADDA Corporation, one of the Valley’s seminal digital video start ups.

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Gary Miles

Gary T. Miles

Member

Behavioral Health Board member

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Marianna Moles - BHB

Marianna Moles

Member

Marianna Moles currently serves as Communications Officer for the County of Santa Clara Public Health Department.

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Mary Croket Cook - BHB

Mary Crocker Cook

Member

Mary joined Behavioral Health Board as both a consumer and professional, with a passion for co-occurring disorders.

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Richard Loftus BHB

Richard Loftus

Member

Judge Superior Court Santa Clara County, CA 1998-2016

Sitting on Assignment 2016-2019

Served in Criminal, Civil, Family, Juvenile (first juvenile mental health court in the US) and Drug/Mental Health (including IST and Mentally Ill) courts

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Sylvia Arenas - BHB

Supervisor Sylvia Arenas

Member

The District 1 staff and I are dedicated to addressing the concerns of and improving our District 1 community and the County of Santa Clara. Please do not hesitate to contact me at (408) 299-5010 or [email protected] if I or my staff can ever be of assistance. We are committed to helping you in any way we can.

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Thomas Jurgensen - BHB

Thomas Jurgensen

Member

Tom graduated with great distinction from SJSU with a B.A. in Psychology
and a Minor in Anthropology. He has a Mental Health Rehabilitation
Specialist (MHRS) certification. He has worked as a Group Home
Counselor, Resident Assistant, Case Manager, Club Facilitator,
Community Trainer, Community Friend, NAMI Peer Pal, and NAMI Mentor.
Tom was a founding member of Rise Above Stigma and Momentum’s
Consumer Advisory Board. He was a founding member of the Office of
Client Empowerment (now Office of Consumer Affairs). Tom was a guest on
More Than Meets the Eye, a community TV program in Redwood City. Tom
was a Junior League Silver Bowl recipient. He has been recognized by SCC
Board of Supervisors for contributions to the community.
As a Community Trainer for many years, Tom worked with graduate
students to provide a Client perspective on issues related to their future
careers. Tom has spoken extensively about the experience of being a
Mental Health Client and about the challenges and insights of providing
services while contending with mental health issues. Tom was involved
with planning and implementing two client-organized conferences and was
involved with the founding of Zephyr and Phoenix Self-Help centers. Tom
was also a CIT panelist for many of the early CIT Trainings.
Tom enjoys writing poetry and composing songs. He currently works as a
Mentor for NAMI’s Mentors on Discharge program. Tom has extensive
lived experience as a Mental Health Client and as a Family Member.

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BHB

Committees

The Behavioral Health Board updated their standing committees with the latest bylaws revision approved by the Board of Supervisors. The current standing committees of the Behavioral Health Board are listed below.

The purpose of the Joint Committee is to improve access and recovery outcomes for County behavioral health services.

The purpose of the Cultural Competency Advisory Committee is to advocate for the service needs of diverse community groups by studying the cultural attributes that affect our ability to reach and service our citizens supported by the Behavioral Health Services Department, and recommend improvements to programs and services to achieve better outcomes in all communities.

The Executive committee is made up of three officers of the BHB and the chairs (or co-chairs if the standing committee chair is a BHB officer) of each of the four standing committees. 

  • The BHB- Executive shall set the time and location of meetings.
  • The BHB- Executive Committee shall prepare the annual report and work plan by March 1 for submission to the BHB.
  • The Executive Committee shall review standing committees and their duties.
  • The standing committee with the most relevant expertise shall evaluate any issue that, in the opinion of a member of the Executive Committee, may be of controversial nature and/or would benefit from a preliminary review by the committee. If no standing committee has directly relevant expertise, the issue shall be evaluated by the Executive Committee.

The purpose of this committee is to assess, recommend, and support the fiscal affairs and condition of the County Behavioral Health Services Department; examine financial and programmatic aspects of programs and services in the continuum of care; and assess potential partnerships and associations between public and private sector organizations and programs.

Contact BHB team

To submit a grievance or complaint related to behavioral health services, please contact QA’s Grievances Team by calling 1 (800) 704-0900, Option #5.