With mental health services at capacity, Kern looks to expand options with 2 new facilities
More and more people need mental health services in Kern County, so much so that Behavioral Health and Recovery Services plans to build two more treatment facilities on Workman Street in east Bakersfield.
The two facilities, which will serve minors and adults, are meant to ease the burden on the county’s mental health safety net, which officials say has reached its maximum capacity.
“Kern County is growing, and so not only is this expansion to help where we currently are, but to successfully plan for the future,” said Robin Taylor, a deputy director at BHRS. “I’ve been working in crisis services since 2008, and just as Kern gets bigger and bigger, that need is still there.”
The department reports that over the last three years, many of the services at its four facilities and beyond have seen a more than 20 percent increase in demand, leading to extended wait times. The mobile evaluation team, which is dispatched by law enforcement during mental health crises, responded to 4,039 requests for service over the last fiscal year, a nearly 51 percent increase from the three fiscal years earlier.
But the county’s greatest need comes from services for adolescents. According to a BHRS report compiled for the Board of Supervisors, the one Kern County facility used for treating youth aged 16 to 20 is contracted for use by multiple counties. Although local youth get priority admission, the county has had difficulty securing beds. In some cases, Kern County teenagers have had to be sent outside the county for treatment.
“For minors, we’re over (capacity). We need more,” Taylor said.
“We really do need more inpatient psychiatric beds.”
On Tuesday, supervisors will consider a plan that would authorize BHRS to pursue funding for the two facilities. Expected to cost around $25.5 million, the financing of the project will be discussed at the meeting.
Each facility would contain at least 16 beds, and will provide inpatient services for voluntary and involuntary patients.
BHRS has been developing the project for the last three years, and the land on which the two facilities would go was purchased in 2019. Taylor described the project as being past the midpoint, with preliminary designs of the buildings already completed.
“We see this as a very valuable service to the community. Through our stakeholder process we know this is a need,” she said. “At this time, we are just going to continue to move forward.”
The project could be completed as soon as the end of 2022 or the beginning of 2023, with 76 jobs being supported by BHRS’s additions.
At a time when many have lost their jobs or have been forced to social distance, the extra support could be more in-demand than ever.
During the coronavirus pandemic, mental health services have been needed at a consistently high level. BHRS services have seen a steady flow of work when normally demand dips from time to time. The planned expansion should help the department be prepared for future needs, according to department heads.
Most of BHRS’s funding comes from taxes collected by the state. The construction of the two new sites is not expected to impact the county’s general fund.