The depressed, the bipolar and the schizophrenic in Santa Barbara County may soon go from healthy support groups, therapeutic jobs and supervised housing to out-of-county institutions, long lines for help or emergency rooms and jails.

The Santa Barbara County Alcohol, Drug and Mental Health Services Department (ADMHS) has been charged with balancing next year's budget after a $6.7 million shortfall this year.

The preliminary budget and restructuring plan, set to be received Tuesday by the county Board of Supervisors, focuses on cuts in funding for adult mental health services.

ADMHS has attempted to provide the core mental health services as required by law, such as emergency health services and treatment for high-risk patients, according to the county.

However, nonprofits and other community-based organizations who have contracts with the county say the budget cuts are too close to the mental health consumer.

According to a staff report for Tuesday's meeting, community-based organizations (CBOs) provide one-third of the services for the county's mentally ill. And nonprofit leaders agree that the public-private partnership has resulted in cost effective community services, lower use of expensive hospital beds and a reduction of homelessness and substance abuse among service recipients.

But the ADMHS is proposing a cut of more than $4 million to the county's CBOs. The cuts also extend into county services for a total of $8.44 million in cuts from adult mental health programs, according to the staff report prepared for Tuesday.

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In a staff report prepared last month, the county said one of the reasons for the department's financial challenges is “persistent delays in state Medi-Cal payments,” a claim that the state denies.

For example, the cuts threaten to close Growing Grounds, a Santa Maria based nonprofit that hires mentally ill offenders to garden three acres of county property on Foster Road.

Growing Grounds, a part of the Transitions Mental Health Association, gives people who could be a danger to themselves or the public the therapeutic job of growing and selling produce and flowers, executive director Jill Bolster-White said.

Those who are too ill to live unsupervised will have few options if the Mental Health Association (MHA) will not be able to provide housing.

Some clients have lived in MHA housing for 10 years or more, and although the hope is that some may be able to transition to independent living and be less intensively supervised, but many cannot, MHA executive director Annmarie Cameron said.

Barry Schoer, the executive director of Sanctuary Psychiatric Centers in Santa Barbara, said the county informed him that all of his contracts would be eliminated, including the funding for the support services of 40 residents in subsidized housing. Schoer called it “penny wise and pound foolish” because the outpatient housing and services keep people out of hospitals and emergency rooms.

He said the subsidized apartments are around $200 a month and the support services cost about $20 a day per person. A night of hospitalization costs the county $900.

The hardest hit, because they are not considered at-risk, will be those who have made hard-won progress over their illness and rely on support groups and continued therapy to remain healthy.

Cameron's Fellowship Club and Bolster-White's the Gatehouse both provide mental health rehabilitation through support groups and classes.

And the community groups aren't the only places where the pinch will be felt. According to the county's preliminary budget for next year, the county will cut staff members at its own outpatient clinics to reach staff-to-client ratios of about 1 to 44.

Cameron said recent estimates show 800 to 1,000 people will lose mental health services and 50 to 100 people are at risk of losing their housing if the budget cuts are approved.

Sam Womack can be reached at 739-2218 or swomack@lompoc record.com.

April 18, 2008