Most recommendations already being implemented, officials say
Santa Barbara County officials agree with most of a grand jury report citing a lack of adequate mental health facilities and services for children and youths but disagree partially with one of the report’s findings and wholly with two others, according to a response approved Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors.
County staff, however, recommended not implementing some of the grand jury’s recommendations and noted most of them had already been implemented or were being implemented when the report was released.
“The grand jury does investigations over a period of time, and sometimes the [findings] are no longer accurate,” said Alice Gleghorn, director of the Department of Behavioral Wellness.
Board members voted unanimously to approve the response recommended by county staff at the meeting in Santa Maria, but the report was criticized by a representative of the Latino community, which he said was totally excluded from the report.
The report said the 2018-19 grand jury received requests to investigate behavioral wellness resources for children and youth in the county, focusing on those experiencing a mental health crisis — characterized by extreme emotional difficulties, self-harm and suicidal behavior.
In its report, the grand jury said it found the County Department of Behavioral Wellness has a dedicated staff of professionals and offers a range of services for children and youth with serious emotional disturbances as well as treatment for those with substance abuse problems.
However, the grand jury said many people throughout the county are unaware of those services, and when a child is in crisis, most parents and caregivers either call 911 or take the child to the nearest hospital emergency room, where personnel generally lack the ability to deal with behavioral health crises.
The grand jury concluded additional resources are needed for children’s services, including an improved crisis response, advanced training for contract service providers and the establishment of local crisis respite shelters.
Santa Maria officials will issue their response Tuesday to a Santa Barbara County grand jury report, disagreeing with part of the watchdog boa…
If a so-called 5585 hold placed on a child — meaning the child is a danger to self or to others or gravely disabled and can be involuntarily held for up to 72 hours — he or she must be taken to a children’s psychiatric hospital.
But the grand jury noted there are no such hospitals in Santa Barbara County, with the closest located in Ventura County. And if a bed is not available there, a child can be transferred as far away as San Francisco or San Diego.
The grand jury concluded additional resources are needed, including community and private psychiatrists, pediatricians who are experienced in diagnosing and treating mental illness and co-existing disorders, case managers who can navigate the complicated systems of health care and insurance companies, and in-county short-term facilities for crisis de-escalation.
Manuel Casas, a professor emeritus of the UCSB Department of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology who said he was representing the Latino community, said the information in the report was “dismal” and “not very accurate.”
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“For all intents and purposes, [the Latino community] was excluded from this report,” he said, pointing out the county’s population is primarily Latino.
“This report should be taken back and totally redone,” he said, questioning the statistics and who collected the data. “I truly believe Behavioral Wellness could do a much better job.”
August 28, 2019
Lompoc Record, Santa Ynez Valley News
By Mike Hodgson
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