Santa Barbara’s Crisis Stabilization Unit Six Month Report
The Locked Facility Focus Is on 24-Hour Care or Less
Santa Barbara’s crisis stabilization unit served 201 people in its first six months after reopening in May, according to a report presented to the Board of Supervisors last week. The county’s Department of Behavioral Wellness said that the patients at the eight-bed unit received stabilization, rehabilitation, counseling, and medical services. Staff also connected patients to other services they might need. The unit focuses on care for a period of 24 hours or less.
When it first opened in 2015, the unit had four beds and was available only for voluntary patients. It closed in May 2022.
At the January 7 Board of Supervisors meeting, Behavioral Wellness Director Toni Navarro, said that the facility closed in part due to staffing shortages and the ongoing COVID impact.
After meeting with stakeholders, including community members, and other local agencies for feedback, Navarro found a repeated desire for a more “efficient” crisis stabilization unit.
“There was a common thread across all groups for more locked beds in order to better meet the county’s 5150 needs locally,” she said, referring to the penal code for patients that are deemed a danger to themselves or others.
In May 2024, the unit reopened as a locked facility, meaning patients can be placed there involuntarily by police officers or certain mental health professionals if they pose a danger to themselves or others, or are gravely disabled. These holds have a 72-hour limit.
Originally 5150 holds, part of the Lanterman–Petris–Short Act of 1967, only applied to a limited number of patients, but in 2023, Governor Gavin Newsom expanded who could be placed under the hold to those with severe mental health or substance abuse disorders judged unable to keep themselves safe.
Connor Pearce, the department’s crisis services manager, said that while the unit does accept 5150 holds, it remains open to people voluntarily seeking help as well.
“I personally spoke to a client’s family member recently who [didn’t] really want anybody going to their house, and didn’t want law enforcement in their house. And so … they drove their loved ones straight to the facility,” Pearce said.
Managed by Crestwood Behavioral Health, which runs crisis service centers across the state, the facility accepts Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement for the first 24 hours of a patient’s stay.
The average time spent in the unit, according to Behavioral Wellness, is a bit more than 22 hours.
After a patient stabilizes or 24 hours have passed, Pearce said unit staff work to connect the patient to the care they need.
From May to November 2024, 43 percent of patients returned to their community.
“So that could be their home; that could be a relative’s home; that could be what we call [a] CRT, a crisis residential treatment facility; that can be a shelter,” he said.
Pearce said that patients who have not yet stabilized can also go to another locked facility that offers a higher level of care, such as crisis residential treatment centers. About 19 percent of patients were referred to residential treatment centers.
According to a staff report to the Board of Supervisors, the number of patients the unit has served grew every month except July: May saw only two patients, while November saw 46. Currently, Cottage Hospital refers the majority of patients to the unit — 81 percent. The Department of Behavioral Wellness said it is working with law enforcement to provide information on the new model of care, and how law enforcement can refer patients.
