FundaMental Health expands access to mental healthcare in San Diego

“I am not a healthcare professional. I am not a therapist. I am simply someone with shared experience,” says Wyatt Hinshaw, a University of California, Berkeley-educated mechanical engineer. “During my last year at school I really started to struggle with anxiety and depression, so much so I had to muster up the courage to ask for help.”

That started a 14-year journey he is still on today. “I have felt the pain points of the system, number one being cost,” says Hinshaw, now 37, who grew up in Del Mar, went to the Bishop’s School, and lives in Leucadia. “I’ve paid for 90 percent of my services out of pocket, and I’m lucky enough to have good insurance. But to leverage that insurance to get the care I need has been difficult.”

Thankfully, in 2021 Hinshaw found the care he needed, though he had to go to Los Angeles to get it. After an extensive evaluation at UCLA, Hinshaw, who in addition to his degree in mechanical engineering also has a degree in business from UC Santa Cruz, was diagnosed with a version of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) known as Pure O.

He entered an intensive outpatient program that was considered the gold standard for OCD, where he spent multiple hours per day meeting with different providers and practicing numerous modalities, including dialectical behavioral therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, or EMDR.

Feeling significantly better while still in treatment, Hinshaw recognized that he was fortunate that he had the money, support, and wherewithal to navigate the mental health system. His first job out of college was as a mechanical engineer in the automotive industry, but he quickly pivoted to business, working in the venture capital and incubator space related to the life sciences in San Diego and Japan.

It was that success, combined with the improvement in his own mental health, that led Hinshaw to found FundaMental Health in 2022 with the goal of improving access to quality mental healthcare for underserved populations who face financial and/or cultural barriers to getting care.

Now entering its third year, FundaMental Health currently supports participants from three groups — youth, LGBTQ+, and the homeless — and partners with organizations that serve the same populations. Its current referrals come from EscoKidos, The Center (formerly The San Diego LGBT Community Center), and Solutions for Change, which provide services ranging from housing to nutrition to transportation. “That way, participants have real wraparound services, which are known to produce better outcomes,” says Hinshaw.

FundaMental Health has been financed through private philanthropy and grants, but the organization recently made the strategic decision to also become part of the Medi-Cal system. The majority of FundaMental Health’s participants are either on Medi-Cal or qualify for it, and by adding providers to its network who accept it, Medi-Cal will pay those costs, substantially reducing the organization’s out-of-pocket costs. “We are currently focused on San Diego, but the goal is to develop a self-sustaining program that can be scaled throughout California and then to other states,” Hinshaw says.

Of course, not all participants qualify for Medi-Cal, and FundaMental Health offers their same services to those who do not. Hinshaw says, “I believe everyone deserves equal access to quality mental healthcare, and that improving access will greatly impact our community.” fundamental.health