The Get Well Initiative

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 comradery among tenants.

It only costs $28/day to house a person in permanent supportive housing, and the benefits are: 24/7 care from a staff clinician, medication management, daily outings and, of course, peace of mind. Further, permanent supportive housing saves the community between $58 and $1,572 per person per day. Therefore, by adding thirty-four supportive housing units, our community is saving between $719,780 and $19,508,520 per year.

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 Care 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, dental and behavioral health professionals well-versed in the intricacies of mental illness. There will be expanded case management, behavioral health advocacy, nursing triage services 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.

Problem: In recent years, the need for Sanctuary Centers’ services for individuals experiencing co-occurring disorders (both a mental health and substance use diagnosis) has grown exponentially. As the correlation between substance use and mental health issues has become more widely accepted, the siloed treatment approach to each is becoming outdated. However, Sanctuary Centers’ ability to meet this growing need is at capacity, and without increased physical space, services cannot be increased.

Solution: The fastest growing need in Santa Barbara County—and the recovery community in general—is for co-occurring disorders services.  Over sixty percent of Santa Barbara’s mentally ill community has a substance abuse problem as well, and for veterans with PTSD it’s nearly eighty percent. As a result, our current facility cannot accommodate one-tenth of the community’s need. In addition, thanks to the success of Sanctuary Centers’ Project BRACE TM, providing treatment in the Santa Barbara County jail, more and more previously incarcerated individuals are breaking the cycle of recidivism through the services of the COD program. We estimate that the demand for Project BRACE TM will double each year for the next three years. Therefore, it is not only necessary to have this expanded facility, it would be inhumane not to be able to help these individuals.