What is the City doing to improve access to services for people with behavioral health and substance use needs?

What is the City doing to improve access to services for people with behavioral health and substance use needs?

January 7, 2025

The City of Sebastopol utilizes our homeless outreach coordinator to help connect people to available mental health resources in conjunction with West County Community Services. 

Additionally, the City of Sebastopol utilizes the services of the Sonoma County Mobile Support Team (MST), which is managed by the Sonoma County Department of Health Services Behavioral Health Division. The MST field team is staffed with mental health clinicians, alcohol and other drugs counselors and senior support specialists that can respond independent of law enforcement when appropriate. They respond to a variety of situations and provide in-field crisis assessments. The Mobile Support Team can be reached 24/7/365 by the public at 1-800-746-8181. The capacity of MST is limited and they cover a large area in the County, so are not as readily available as we would like. 

Unfortunately, the mental health system in Sonoma County, as in many other places, is significantly overburdened. The Sonoma County Crisis Stabilization Unit (CSU), which is the facility where people are taken to be evaluated, and if need be held for up to 72 hours, has only 16 beds. Due to staffing shortages, they could only operate 8 beds if folks needed to be held overnight. 

To further add stress on the system, the CSU recently had to relocate their facility due to a mold infestation and they currently do not have the capacity to house people overnight. They are having to find placements for patients elsewhere and relying on local hospital emergency rooms for assistance. The situation is expected to last through the end of this year. 

The City of Sebastopol is continually evaluating additional options to provide access to these types of services.