Behavioral Health Hall of Fame: Le Ondra Clark Harvey

Chief Executive Officer, California Behavioral Health Association

Why She’s in the Behavioral Health Hall of Fame

Some leaders advocate for behavioral health from the outside. Others advocate from experience inside the system. Le Ondra Clark Harvey has done both.

As Chief Executive Officer of the California Behavioral Health Association (CBHA), Le Ondra is one of the most influential voices in behavioral health policy and advocacy in California. She represents organizations that provide care to millions of individuals and families, leads the California Access Coalition, and recently launched the Behavioral Health Innovation Institute to help the field anticipate and prepare for emerging challenges and opportunities.

What makes her leadership exceptional is the perspective she brings to it.

Over the course of her career, Le Ondra has served as a clinician, policy advisor, executive leader, advocate, and patient. She has worked directly with individuals and families seeking care, helped shape policy inside state government, and led organizations dedicated to strengthening behavioral health systems. Few leaders understand the complexities of behavioral health from as many angles.

That depth of experience has shaped a leadership philosophy rooted in collaboration, compassion, and a relentless commitment to improving access to care.

It is why Le Ondra Clark Harvey belongs in the Behavioral Health Hall of Fame.

At a Glance

Current Role: Chief Executive Officer, California Behavioral Health Association (CBHA)

Additional Leadership Roles: Executive Director, California Access Coalition; Executive Director, Behavioral Health Innovation Institute

Board Service: National Council for Mental Wellbeing; California Association of Nonprofits; Child Welfare League of America Mental Health Advisory Board; American Psychological Foundation Direct Action Campaign Cabinet

Education: PhD, Counseling Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Areas of Focus: Behavioral health policy, Medi-Cal and CalAIM sustainability, integrated care, workforce development, access to care, innovation, and system transformation

A Foundation Built on Service

Behavioral health was never simply a career choice for Le Ondra. It became a calling.

Her mother spent more than three decades working as a marriage and family therapist. While Le Ondra initially imagined a different path, she eventually came to appreciate something far more important than the profession itself: the profound impact one person can have on another person’s life.

Watching her mother’s commitment to helping people ultimately shaped how she viewed service, leadership, and community. Those lessons would follow her throughout her career.

After earning degrees in psychology and counseling psychology, Le Ondra began working in community mental health settings in Wisconsin. There she served individuals and families facing significant challenges and barriers to care. Working in outpatient programs, community-based settings, and state hospital environments, she developed a firsthand understanding of both the power of behavioral health services and the limitations of the systems designed to deliver them.

The experience would become foundational to everything that followed.

From Clinical Care to System Change

After completing advanced clinical training, including work with children and families at leading academic medical centers in California, Le Ondra found herself asking a larger question.

How could the system itself be improved?

She realized that while clinical care changes lives one person at a time, policy can shape outcomes for entire communities.

That realization led her to a fellowship through the California Council on Science and Technology, where she worked within the California Legislature. What began as a one-year opportunity evolved into a career in public policy and government affairs.

She went on to serve as a policy committee consultant in both the California Senate and Assembly, helping oversee issues affecting professional licensing boards and behavioral health services across the state.

The move from clinician to policymaker gave her a broader understanding of how decisions made at the legislative level ultimately affect providers, patients, and communities.

Years later, when the opportunity arose to lead CBHA, it felt less like a career transition and more like a return to the people and organizations she had always cared about.

Today, she advocates on behalf of community-based providers working every day to serve individuals with complex behavioral health needs, many of whom face significant economic, social, and health-related challenges.

Building Bridges Across the Field

One of Le Ondra’s defining contributions has been her commitment to bringing people together.

Behavioral health is often divided into separate sectors, populations, specialties, funding streams, and advocacy efforts. Organizations serving children, adults, individuals with substance use disorders, people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and countless other populations frequently operate within their own spheres.

Le Ondra has spent much of her leadership career working against that fragmentation.

Under her leadership, CBHA has become one of the most diverse behavioral health coalitions in California, bringing together providers, advocates, technology partners, policymakers, and community leaders to address shared challenges.

Her belief is simple: meaningful progress happens when people work across boundaries rather than within them.

Whether the issue is workforce shortages, access to care, payment reform, integration, or innovation, solutions become stronger when diverse perspectives are invited to the table.

That approach has helped position CBHA as a respected convener and trusted voice throughout California’s behavioral health landscape.

Leading Through Transformation

Behavioral health is experiencing one of the most significant periods of change in its history.

The impacts of the pandemic continue to affect providers and communities. Workforce shortages remain a pressing concern. New models of care are emerging. Payment systems are evolving. Expectations around access, quality, and outcomes continue to grow.

Throughout these changes, Le Ondra has remained focused on helping organizations navigate uncertainty while keeping individuals and families at the center of the conversation.

She has been a strong advocate for integrated care models, sustainable funding structures, workforce investment, and innovative approaches that improve access to services.

Her work reflects a belief that lasting change requires both vision and practical execution, a balance she has consistently brought to her leadership.

A Vision for the Future

In 2026, Le Ondra helped launch the Behavioral Health Innovation Institute, a new initiative designed to help behavioral health organizations prepare for the future rather than simply react to it.

The Institute reflects her longstanding belief that innovation should be intentional, collaborative, and focused on improving outcomes for the people behavioral health systems exist to serve.

Its mission is to identify emerging trends, foster new partnerships, and help providers understand how technology, policy, and changing community needs will shape the next generation of care.

The effort represents an extension of the work she has spent her career advancing: building stronger systems that are prepared for tomorrow while meeting the needs of today.

Leadership Informed by Experience

Several years ago, Le Ondra faced a personal challenge when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The experience deepened her understanding of the patient journey and reinforced what she had spent her career advocating for: whole-person care.

Navigating a serious health condition provided another lens through which to understand resilience, vulnerability, access to services, and the importance of compassionate systems of care.

Rather than stepping away from her mission, the experience strengthened it.

It expanded her perspective as a leader and further reinforced her commitment to ensuring that health and behavioral health systems work better for the people who rely on them.

Lasting Impact

The most effective leaders leave organizations stronger than they found them. The most influential leaders leave an entire field stronger.

Throughout her career, Le Ondra Clark Harvey has helped shape policy, strengthen providers, elevate collaboration, and expand opportunities for innovation across behavioral health.

She has dedicated her professional life to improving systems of care while never losing sight of the individuals those systems are meant to serve.

Clinician. Advocate. Policymaker. Executive. Patient.

Each role has informed the next.

Together, they have made her one of the most respected and influential leaders in behavioral health today.

For her unwavering commitment to advancing care, strengthening communities, and building a more connected future for behavioral health, Le Ondra Clark Harvey earns her place in the Behavioral Health Hall of Fame.