Responsive Treatment, Reclaiming Lives
Since 1976, Sanctuary Centers has proudly provided comprehensive mental health-care services to the Santa Barbara community. We offer evidence-based interventions as well as complementary therapies to address mental illness and enhance overall wellness. We remain dedicated to providing essential services to individuals living with mental illness, substance abuse problems, and co-occurring disorders in our community. Rather than forcing clients to choose between intense inpatient hospitalization and inadequate outpatient treatment plans, we offer a community-based continuum of care. Our program includes a full spectrum of services for anyone adversely affected by mental illness, as well as addiction.
Over the years, Sanctuary Centers has expanded and adapted its services to respond to the ever-changing needs of the community. Today, our comprehensive care includes: mental health residential care, outpatient services, supportive housing, and integrated healthcare.
Meeting Needs, Expanding Services
The three most pressing needs of adults living with mental illness and substance abuse in the Santa Barbara region are: a shortage of affordable supportive housing, significant barriers to preventative health care and limited specialized counseling and support services.
To address these needs, Sanctuary Centers has launched a $30-million-dollar initiative to build a six-story facility. Conveniently located in the heart of downtown Santa Barbara, the new campus will be adjacent to the Sanctuary Centers’ Outpatient Mental Health and Housing campus. It will nearly double the number of apartments, expand the Integrated Health Care Clinic and Co-occurring Disorders (COD) Center, increase both group and individual therapy rooms, and provide a much-needed community space for recreational and social activities.
Problem: The average lead time to obtain permanent housing in one of Sanctuary’s apartments is one year.
While waiting, individuals with families who are not equipped to provide the care they need are obligated to remain in more restrictive or costly programs. Or, in the worst of cases, they are relegated to homelessness. This delay can result in a deterioration of mental health, sometimes leading to hospitalization or imprisonment. This is a tremendous cost to the local community: It costs $86/day to house a person in jail, $800/day to house a person in a private healthcare facility and $1,600 per day to house a person at a hospital.
Solution: The new building will include twenty-four independent living units with wrap-around services similar to those already operated by Sanctuary. These new studio apartments will nearly double the number of individuals Sanctuary Centers can assist in the journey toward independence. Additionally, the new building will include 10 supported, independent living units. This will allow Sanctuary Centers to provide a higher level of 24/7 palliative care than previously possible. It is designed for clients who require a highly supportive, yet independent housing environment. The individual units surround a common living, dining, and kitchen area to foster and build a sense of community, support, and camaraderie among tenants.
Problem: Statistically, adults living with mental illness are 50% less likely to seek health care treatment, resulting in untimely deaths. The current Integrated Care Clinic is at full capacity, with a wait time of up to five weeks for a medical appointment and four weeks for a dental appointment. Given that this is the only clinic of its kind in Santa Barbara, an expansion of the space and hours is desperately needed, and will allow Sanctuary Centers to provide the much-needed walk-in services.
Solution: A greatly expanded Integrated Health Clinic will be incorporated into the new facility, doubling the number of medical and dental exam rooms, significantly reducing wait times, and increasing the number of clients that can be seen each year. Visitors will receive their care from medical and behavioral health professionals well-versed in the intricacies of mental illness. There will be expanded case management, behavioral health advocacy, nursing triage service,s and transportation–to assist clients in scheduling, and keeping appointments–providing specialized care as needed. The new facility will have three medical offices and three dental offices, allowing multiple patients to be seen at the same time, the accommodation of walk-ins alongside a dedicated space for behavioral health advocates to meet with patients, and free psychiatry. The new facility will be open fourteen hours per day, seven days a week. This will help significantly reduce unnecessary visits to the already-overcrowded emergency department.
Serving Our Community
This new facility will enable more adults living with mental illness, substance-abuse problems and co-occurring disorders to obtain the services they need in order to rebuild their lives and become active, contributing members of our community. Anyone walking into the clinic will receive services, support, referrals and general assistance. The Integrated Health Clinic has been, and will continue to be, a tremendous asset to Santa Barbara County and its community. In order to ensure uninterrupted access, the clinic will be open in a temporary location throughout construction.
With mental health and homelessness at the forefront of Santa Barbara’s toughest dilemmas, the Santa Barbara Planning Commission unanimously passed a motion to allow Sanctuary Centers’ proposed mixed-use building to exceed the city’s 45-foot height limit—a first in the City of Santa Barbara since 1946.
Sanctuary Centers was established with the sole purpose of helping individuals with mental illness reclaim independence. We have sought to break down barriers, create opportunities, provide safe and secure housing and help individuals regain their lives, their self-respect and contribute to the community in meaningful ways.