The next articles had been printed from Santa Maria Solar [santamariasun.com] – Quantity 22, Situation 30
Behavioral Wellness says there are gaps within the county’s psychological well being providers
By Taylor O’Connor
The Santa Barbara County Department of Behavioral Wellness advised Santa Barbara County supervisors on Sept. 20 that offering extra beds for decrease stage psychological well being providers will cut back the necessity for extra intense, costly care.
“Gaps or insufficiencies may end up in an overuse of upper care wants,” Deputy Director for Psychological Well being Packages Pam Fisher stated during the meeting.
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The division wants 85 extra beds to increase its capacity for decrease depth stage psychological well being providers to higher serve the neighborhood, she stated. When sufferers don’t have entry to decrease ranges of service, acute care—the best depth stage of medical assist for psychiatric wants—can change into overused and trigger the county to spend extra to supply care. Acute care prices greater than $2,500 per shopper per evening, whereas transitional housing, which gives on-site assist and restoration for 18 months or much less, prices about $15 per shopper per evening, Fisher stated.
To cut back acute care providers’ use, Behavioral Wellness needs to extend supportive housing providers by funding improvement initiatives by means of sources equivalent to No Place Like Residence, a $2 billion state initiative devoted to creating everlasting supportive housing for the homeless inhabitants or these needing psychological providers.
“We’re at all times constrained by prices, however the division does the most effective job [it can] to establish funding,” Fisher stated
Behavioral Wellness Housing Companies Supervisor Laura Zeitz stated the division is wanting into a number of grants that may provide beds for supportive housing providers.
“We’re monitoring funding coming by means of the state that might assist us with these initiatives and is one thing we meet about regularly to debate,” Zeitz stated.
Quite a lot of the initiatives embrace ongoing prices, which might trigger issues if the division was granted one-time American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding, Zeitz stated.
Fifth District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino stated he understood the frustration with the shortage of services and highlighted the venture’s significance.
“If you happen to’re taking a look at this from a hawkish finances eye, this really saves us cash. It comes right down to the necessity that’s at all times going to be there and the way are we going to maintain that assist,” he stated.
Lavagnino stated he needs to see additional exploration of funding alternatives for these initiatives and sees the neighborhood as being supportive of funding in psychological well being providers.
“Santa Maria had each the Depot and Agnes services that introduced a lot wanted providers to the town. As a testomony to them and the way they seen these services, I didn’t get telephone calls up in arms concerning the county’s jamming services in the neighborhood,” he stated.
Behavioral Wellness will return to the Board of Supervisors in October with a finances breakdown and another wants Fisher and her workforce could have recognized.
