Sonoma County has launched a pilot program to increase access to critical mental health and trauma services for foster youths in the county.
The three-year pilot at Valley of the Moon Children’s Center in Santa Rosa will provide in-patient treatment for issues related to trauma, mental health or substance abuse, according to the county.
The Short-Term Residential Therapeutic Program is the second to receive state licensure and will allow the county to stop sending foster youth in need of trauma and mental health services to other counties for treatment, which it currently does with about 80% of the youths in need of such services.
Four youths became the first to use the program on July 10. The program will initially have the capacity to serve 16 youths at a time, with four beds for short-term evaluations and 12 beds for long-term intensive care for anywhere from three to 12 months. The county expects the program to serve 20 youths annually by its second year.
The county Board of Supervisors approved funding for the program in October. It will cost about $27 million over three years, most of which will come from the state and federal governments.
About $7.9 million will come from funding the county already receives from the state for health and human services. The remaining roughly $1.7 million will come from funding from Measure O, the quarter-cent sales tax approved by Sonoma County voters in 2020 to pay for mental health and homelessness services.
It takes a village
Supervisor David Rabbitt said the welfare of children was a community responsibility.
“This is an investment by our community in a particularly vulnerable group of children who have been neglected or abused. This treatment program will not only improve their immediate well-being, but it will also help them develop crucial skills that will reduce their reliance on government safety net programs later on in their lives,” Rabbitt said.
The Short-Term Residential Therapeutic Program will consist of 22 residential counselors, two behavioral health clinicians and one social worker. It will also staff six supervisors, a residential clinical manager and shared medical and support staff that will also work in the shelter.
Valley of the Moon Children’s Center, located at 112 Children’s Circle in Santa Rosa, is the county’s sole full-time emergency shelter for foster youth. It serves about 115 youths a year, about 6-8% of whom need complex mental health services and trauma care provided by such therapeutic programs, according to the county.
Wait times to get them into other trauma care programs can go up to nine months, which the county expects to shorten with the program.
The program is ultimately meant to help get youths who are not presently able to be in a family setting because of trauma, abuse or other reasons to get the care they need to get them back into a family living environment.
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