Board debates DEIA language, mission wording and accelerating paperless transition during strategic planning session
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Summary
During a Feb. 19 strategic planning workshop, the California Board of Behavioral Sciences and facilitators reviewed the board's mission and vision, debated adding culturally responsive/DEIA language to objectives, proposed an equity impact assessment, and discussed accelerating a transition to paperless, accessible processes; the board asked staff to refine wording and action plans offline.
After the petition hearing, the Board of Behavioral Sciences convened a strategic planning session for the 2026'2030 plan led by consultants Sarah Irani and Tricia Saint Clair of Solid. The facilitators framed objectives and emphasized embedding diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) in the planning process.
Facilitators presented a draft mission statement: "protect and serve Californians by setting, communicating, and enforcing standards for safe and competent mental health practices." Board members debated whether the mission and vision should be aspirational ('highest quality') or use operational language ('competent') and discussed adding the term "culturally responsive." Board member John Sovick argued for aspirational wording: "I think we should send our standards high and try and achieve them as a board and put the highest level of expectation in our mission and our vision, and then work to achieve that as best we can." Other members cautioned that mission wording should align with statutory mandate and recommended consultation with counsel and staff.
A recurring theme was explicit DEIA integration into administrative objectives. Members suggested concrete language such as implementing DEIA mandates to assess, update and standardize board forms (including translations and accessible formats), and recommended creation of guiding principles or a language protocol to ensure consistent, inclusive communications. One board member urged an equity audit and recommended developing assessment tools to measure DEIA outcomes such as exam pass rates and processing times.
Several members pushed to accelerate the move to paperless processes. As one member put it, "the transition to paperless process should be moved up ... it's gonna take a hit out of our processing time," arguing that digitization would reduce processing delays cited in the board's environmental scan. Staff responded that timelines depend on coordination with Department of Consumer Affairs units and existing workloads but said action-plan trackers and task-level timelines could be provided in follow-up to the board.
Facilitators explained that action planning (the step after approving objectives) will convert objectives into measurable tasks, deadlines and a tracker staff will maintain; several board members requested clearer metrics and reporting cadence. The board agreed to workshop mission/vision wording and specific objectives offline with staff and counsel and to return with refined language and implementation timelines. The session recessed for lunch with a planned reconvening at 1:45 p.m.
What happens next: staff and the facilitators will incorporate board feedback, draft refined objective language (including DEIA-related objectives and potential equity-assessment work), and present a detailed action plan and tracker for board review.
