About Bright Motherhood
A patient-led effort to protect continuity of maternal and reproductive mental health care at UC San Diego.
What Is Happening
The UC San Diego Department of Psychiatry adopted a new policy requiring mental health providers to hold a large share of their appointments for UCSD, reported as 60% for current faculty and MSP staff physicians and 80% for new hires, while significantly restricting their outside professional practice. Clinicians and their union (UPTE) warn this will push specialized providers out of UCSD, worsen already months-long wait times, and break continuity of care for patients scheduled months in advance.
From the patient side, the harm is immediate: some patients in active psychiatric care have been told to transfer their care on a five-week timeline, with no clear transition plan. The people most affected are among the most fragile the system serves: women in high-risk pregnancies, in the postpartum period, in infertility and pregnancy-loss care, and in serious reproductive mental health crisis.
Why Continuity of Care Matters
In mental health, the relationship is the treatment. Sudden breaks in psychiatric care are known to cause missed appointments, medication lapses, emergency room visits, and avoidable hospitalizations, and they destroy therapeutic trust that takes years to build. A rushed handoff is not continuity of care, especially for perinatal and reproductive mental health patients, for whom a stable provider can be a matter of safety.
Who We Are
Bright Motherhood is a patient-led effort. We are patients, parents, and families who have lived this care, and we stand alongside the UC San Diego clinicians and workers, represented by UPTE, who are raising the alarm from inside the system. You can read the providers’ letter here.
What We Are Asking UC San Diego Health to Do
- Immediately suspend the five-week transfer timeline so no patient in active treatment is cut off from care without a safe, warm handoff.
- Retract or revise the new appointment-availability policy, and the limits on providers’ outside practice, that are driving experienced, specialized clinicians out of UC San Diego.
- Put a clear, written continuity-of-care transition plan in place, and honor every patient’s continuity-of-care rights under California law.
- Work openly with affected patients, clinicians, and staff to develop equitable alternatives that protect timely, high-quality mental health care, especially for the women and mothers this policy hits hardest.
In crisis? Call or text 988, or the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline at 1-833-852-6262. This website does not provide medical advice and is not a substitute for emergency care.
Now That You Know, Here Is How to Help
It takes about two minutes to add your name, and about five to send letters that reach the people who can fix this.