Many Californians can’t get mental health help. Is it too hard to become a therapist?

IN HER HOME in the Sierra Nevada foothills, Eboni Moen, 42, struggled to find help. Some days she would rock back and forth in her shower, crying uncontrollably and thinking back to her son’s murder. She needed a therapist, she said, someone who could help her process what happened and find appropriate medication. 

But in rural Amador County, where she lives, mental health providers are few and far between, and it took Moen about two and a half years to find help.