Mental Health Services to Get a Boost

Ventura County officials on Tuesday unveiled a $6.7-million expansion of mental health services that they say will provide much-needed help for older adults, children and people in the midst of mental breakdowns.

After years of budget cuts, the county’s Behavioral Health Department will not only be able to restore services but also to add new ones, as a result of revenue generated by Proposition 63, said mental health chief Linda Shulman.

That news brought praise from the Board of Supervisors, who voted to send the spending proposals to Sacramento for approval.

“There’s a lot of hope out there,” said Supervisor Linda Parks. “I’m excited to see how this money will be used to help save lives.”

Proposition 63, which voters approved last year, placed a 1% surcharge on the personal income taxes of California’s wealthiest residents. It is expected to generate $800 million statewide in the 2006-07 budget. Ventura County’s annual share is projected to reach as much as $11 million.

Before the state distributes the money, counties must submit descriptions of programs and spending plans in the areas of prevention, early intervention, education and training.

The first chunk that Ventura County will receive, $6.7 million, is targeted for community-based programs for up to 1,173 residents, Shulman said. Unlike other government-funded programs, services would be available to any resident regardless of income, she said.

Groups that have for years been neglected, such as homebound seniors, people in jail and middle-class mentally ill, would receive new attention under the plan, she added. Expanded services would be available beginning in July if the county’s blueprint is approved.

“The idea is to look at how to really do this differently,” Shulman said.

Priorities were drawn up by an advisory committee of mental-health professionals, along with people with mental illness and their families.

Restoring a mobile crisis team, hit by budget cuts in recent years, was at the top of the list, Shulman told supervisors. A west-county team would work 24 hours a day, while an east-county team would work 12 hours a day.

A 12-bed crisis center would be established as an alternative to hospitalization for people struggling with episodic meltdowns. The residential program would offer intensive services, work training and peer counseling for up to 30 days.

Filling a gap in current services, the plan would make older adults with severe mental illness eligible for in-home care and day treatment. Clients would have to be at least 60 and also suffer from substance abuse, dementia or a physical disability.

Mentally ill people who end up in jail are targeted for expanded services, including support groups and medical treatment upon discharge. An additional $2 million would cover rental subsidies for up to 140 people who would otherwise be homeless, Shulman said.

Though the advisory committee disagreed on some spending priorities, the panel reached a consensus on most items, Shulman said. That is welcome relief from the past, several supervisors commented, when disputes over mental-health budgets sparked a bureaucratic war among county departments.

“This is how government should be: people working together and coming to consensus,” Parks said.

Board Chairwoman Kathy Long called the plan a “wonderful framework to move forward from.”

Families who have seen the effects of mental illness up close are encouraged by the infusion of funds and programs, said Lou Matthews, a member of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. Her adult son has schizophrenia and is housed in a county-run facility.

“My hope,” Matthews said, “is that we get away from responding to mental illness after it has reached a crisis to preventing an escalation.”