Families ACT

Our advocates are hard at work to create treatment BEDS NOT CELLS: Step by step progress!

“It’s up to a 24-hour facility, so some people can be stabilized within that period and continue at home, and others need more than that,” Gibbs said. “But it can keep people out of the emergency rooms, where they’ve been spending, some of them, considerable amounts of time waiting for a bed to open up."

Crisis-Stabilization Unit Now Operating as Locked Mental Health Facility | Local News | Noozhawk Santa Barbara County’s crisis-stabilization unit has reopened, and is designated as a locked mental health facility, so it can accept clients on "5150"

Four more beds (out of the hundreds that we need) is something to celebrate. Do you have ANY IDEA how many years and hundreds of hours of butt-numbing meetings this took to accomplish?!

Santa Barbara County Supervisors Approve Funding for 12 New Mental-Health Beds The county’s Crisis Stabilization Unit will reopen as an eight-bed, locked facility run by private contractor Crestwood, which is also adding four beds to its Lompoc facility.

Santa Barbara is getting sued for doing the same!

Albuquerque Is Throwing Out the Belongings of Homeless People, Violating City Policy The city has violated a court order and its own policies by discarding the personal property of thousands of homeless people, who have lost medications, birth certificates, IDs, treasured family photos and the ashes of loved ones.

Wyane Mellinger giving us his opinion in a article in Noozhawk and critical steps toward reforming mental health services in our main jail County of Santa Barbara:

Wayne Mellinger: Those with Mental Illness in Our Jails Deserve Better Care | Opinions | Noozhawk The United States incarcerates more people than any other nation on earth, and within this vast system, a crisis of mental health care is unfolding. The

https://www.santamariasun.com/news/contract-holes-santa-barbara-county-aims-to-adjust-its-contract-with-jail-health-care-provider-wellpath-to-improve-service-levels-15598842

Contract holes: Santa Barbara County aims to adjust its contract with jail health care provider, Wellpath, to improve service levels “People are thrown into the snake pit,” Santa Barbara County resident Kate Smith said about the jail and the county’s mental health care system during...

La Posada Village Opens in Santa Barbara, Bridging the Gap From Homelessness to Housing | Local News | Noozhawk More than 100 people recently celebrated the opening of a new housing community for formerly homeless individuals at the former Santa Barbara County

Listen to this remarkable NPR podcast at

Lost Patients Imagine a sprawling house in which every room, doorway, and hall passage was designed by a different architect. Doorways don't connect. Staircases lead to nowhere. Rooms are cut off from each other. That's how reporter Will James describes our complicated system for treating people with severe menta...

https://www.noozhawk.com/jail-healthcare-system-problems-highlighted-in-community-meeting/

Jail Health Care System Problems Highlighted in Community Meeting | Local News | Noozhawk Santa Barbara County needs more oversight of its jail health care contractor, which is not meeting basic standards for medical and mental-health services,

See you tomorrow SAT at Anchor Rose at the Santa Barbara Harbor, 113 Harbor Way

𝗝𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝘂𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗼𝘄 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝟯-𝟱 𝗣𝗠, 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗟𝗶𝘇 𝗔𝗱𝗮𝗺𝘀, PATH Santa Barbara's 𝗥𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗗𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿.

𝗢𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁, '𝗪𝗮𝗿𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝗵𝗲𝗹𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 & 𝗕𝗿𝗼𝗸𝗲𝗻 𝗦𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺: 𝗦𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗙𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗙𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗨𝗻𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗖𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗻𝘀', 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁—𝗶𝘁'𝘀 𝗮 𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. 𝗕𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.

Good Question!

Why are so many dying in California jails? Nonprofit & Nonpartisan   We depend on readers like you to support our nonprofit, nonpartisan state newsroom through tax-deductible donations. Donate →

https://enewspaper.latimes.com/infinity/article_share.aspx?guid=7dc127a5-2394-44fb-a898-150455cc2c48

Some mentally ill people languish in jails People with mental illnesses who are in conservatorships are being held in Los Angeles County jails even after their crimi- nal charges are dropped, according to a report released by Disability Rights California.

A familiar trajectory.
Her right to run into traffic was preserved.

‘She’s Not Gravely Disabled Enough’: How One Woman Fell Through the Cracks of a Broken Mental Health System Ashley Goldfarb, 25, died 10 days after being discharged from the county’s psychiatric hospital in 2021 after darting into traffic, the same behavior that landed her in the hospital.

California Prop 1 - VOTE TUESDAY!!!
Americans are ready for change when it comes to ending the endless revolving doors of homelessness, incarceration, hospitalizations - and tragic deaths - related to untreated/under-treated chronic serious mental illness and addiction. All eyes are on Proposition 1, the sole statewide ballot measure facing California voters this Tuesday, March 5th.

Why vote yes?

“Proposition 1 would ideally help break the ‘human logjam,’ in which some of the most vulnerable are either abandoned or subjected to repeated, ineffectual, short-term coercive interventions,” says Alex Barnard, a sociology professor at New York University and an expert on conservatorship in California. “There’s no space in highly structured, longer-term treatment. Those facilities are currently full of people stuck inappropriately in an overly restrictive setting while waiting for an appropriate step-down.” But building infrastructure is not enough. Effective psychiatric treatment requires sufficient doctors, nurses, equipment, and supplies. The most efficient use of funds from the Mental Health Services Act would be on things directly related to providing needed treatment."
--Carolyn Gorman

In-Custody Death of Jaime Angel Gonzalez, 33, at Santa Barbara County Jail Ruled Accidental “Physical restraint” used by Sheriff’s Office staff was a considerable factor in inmate’s death but “reasonable and lawful,” DA concludes.

https://timesofsandiego.com/politics/2024/02/27/board-of-supervisors-approves-allocating-35-million-for-housing-state-conservatorship-requirement/

Supervisors Allocate $35 Million to Help 'Gravely Disabled' Under New State Conservatorship Law The county will spend $15 million to implement requirements of Senate Bill 43, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law in October and expands the definition of "gravely disabled" in terms of who can be involuntarily held in facilities and receive treatment.

The death rate for homeless persons in CA TRIPLED between 2011 and 2020.

This is why we need the Prop 1 bond measure for treatment beds and housing.

This is why we need to implement the Grave Disability Bill, Senate Bill 43, that adds the incapacity to provide for one's personal safety as a criterion for medically necessary treatment.

It’s now significantly more deadly to be homeless. Why are so many people dying? Mortality rates for homeless people in California - and the US - more than tripled from 2010 to 2020, a new study shows.

'Very aggressive treatment' on the streets of Skid Row from a renegade M.D. By administering long-acting antipsychotic medication, Dr. Susan Partovi is pushing boundaries in her efforts to help people who are homeless and struggling with mental illness.

"Prop 1: Santa Barbara County desperately needs more inpatient and psychiatric treatment beds for the most seriously ill to get them off the streets, and out of our jails and ERs. The $4 billion in Prop 1 for beds should be argument enough to vote yes. The opposition does not convey that Prop 1 is also a reform measure. It requires accountability for the first time for how the "millionaire's tax" is spent ff. decades of concerning state audits, and it realigns focus to the most seriously ill, the population MHSA was intended to serve." -- Lynne Gibbs

See NAMI'S Position:

static1.squarespace.com

Well Mr. Welsh hit the nail right smack on its head this time!

Time for Cottage Hospital to step up and pony up! We met with them repeatedly sixteen years ago and they finally said they would help if we got the facility. They with their bevvy of billionaires behind them wanted us--a group of grieving mothers working out of a garage --to create the facility before they got involved.

If we wanted to cry over spilled milk, we could cry over the fact that no one at the time asked Cottage (and Cottage did not volunteer) to fix the heating system and roof leak at the Salvation Army's magnificent rehab facility in Carpinteria, which closed down shortly thereafter.

It housed 70 or 80 men with substance use issues and was equipped with a processing center for mountains of donations destined for their Thrift store, as well as an apartment or two for on-site staff. It was spacious and commodious enough, in fact, to have housed student volunteers along with the population in need of rehabilitation.

Linda.com took over the place years ago and presumably remodeled it for office space. Does anyone know what it is being used for today?

Maybe the Salvation Army should be at the table.

Paging Anthony Wagner Whose hair do you gotta muss around here to get a mental-health treatment facility in Santa Barbara?

🙌 ! are here at Santa Barbara County Main Jail to support visitors and their loved ones!! Inmate Needs report is available to fill out any Medical, Mental or Dental needs toe inmate has inside jail. FamiliesACT! mission is to serve and empower individuals and families dealing with mental health and substance use disorders and to educate the general public about the critical need for treatment rather than punishment! “Beds Not Cells!” FamiliesACT! Support group on zoom twice a month!

https://www.sciencealert.com/breakthrough-new-blood-test-predicts-schizophrenia-risk

Breakthrough: New Blood Test Predicts Schizophrenia Risk Diagnosing schizophrenia as early as possible helps minimize the toll the neurological disorder takes on the body and the mind.

https://spectrumnews1.com/ca/la-west/politics/2024/02/01/prop-1-mental-health #

Is Prop. 1 the next piece in modernizing California’s behavioral health system? Prop 1 seeks to update the Mental Health Services Act

https://www.samhsa.gov/newsroom/press-announcements/20240209/biden-harris-administration-partners-states-address-homelessness?fbclid=IwAR0CrdmA7FLS5jYqg6wmZOg_XHZDkdbRTK3O6CWqnvCF2v2H9ryv-a_JklE

Biden-Harris Administration Partners with States to Address Homelessness HHS and HUD’s Accelerator Program will Help States Expand Services to Make it Easier for People with Complex Medical Needs to Get and Keep Stable Housing

https://www.noozhawk.com/county-report-reveals-60-of-people-in-jail-custody-have-mental-health-conditions/?utm_medium=email

Report Reveals 60% of People in County Jail Custody Have Mental Health Conditions | Local News | Noozhawk A new jail report supports what advocates have been saying for years: Hundreds of people in the Santa Barbara County jails have significant mental health