On Friday afternoon, Santa Barbara County Department of Behavioral Wellness (BWell) celebrated the opening of its new South County Child and Family Services Center location at 315 West Haley Street. Thanks to funding from the California Department of Health Care Services, the centrally located building gives community members better access to services, closer to their homes.
Roy Lee, 1st District supervisor, cuts the ribbon, ceremonially opening BWell’s South County Child and Family Services Center. | Credit: Elaine Sanders
A crowd of about 60 people — city, county, and state officials, BWell employees, community partners, and the public — were there to witness 1st District County Supervisor Roy Lee cut the ribbon — not once, but twice — in the ceremonial opening of the center.
“On behalf of the County Board of Supervisors, we support you,” said Laura Capps, 2nd District County Supervisor. “We honor the ways in which you’re changing lives.”
Last month, BWell Director Toni Navarro gave a presentation alongside Sheriff Bill Brown and Dr. Cherylynn Lee of the Sheriff’s Behavioral Sciences Unit, advocating for the importance of co-response teams, a pairing of BWell licensed mental-health practitioners and law enforcement officers. The program is currently facing funding threats and hopes to make up its deficit from the Board of Supervisors budget. If the money is not secured, the number of operational co-response teams will have to be cut.
Visitors were guided on tours through the new center where a team of therapists, psychologists, and clinical case workers are available to assist children, and their families, struggling with behavioral issues to severe mental illness. The center also provides services to help those who have gone through the jail system, those facing homelessness, and community members who call into BWell’s mobile crisis line.
BWell Public Information Officer Suzanne Grimmesey said that this is more than just a building: “It represents access, it represents connection and care, and it’s right here, literally, in the heart of our community.”
BWell Public Information Officer, Suzanne Grimmesey holding a certificate of recognition awarded by the office of Senator Pro Tempore Monique Limón | Credit: Elaine Sanders
BWell Public Information Officer, Suzanne Grimmesey holding a certificate of recognition awarded by the office of Senator Pro Tempore Monique Limón | Credit: Elaine Sanders
2nd District Supervisor Laura Capps | Credit: Elaine Sanders
Credit: Elaine Sanders
