Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, Department of Health Services host special mental health forum

En español »

With Sonoma County experiencing a rise in substance use disorders, homelessness and a shortage of services to address an unprecedented mental health crisis, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors and Department of Health Services on Tuesday convened a first-of-its-kind summit of behavioral health professionals from across the county for a listening session on the mental health care needs of the community.

The participants online and in person at the Finley Center in Santa Rosa heard panel discussions on substance use disorder and the opioid crisis, mental health and wellness needs, crisis services and suicide prevention, and workforce challenges and solutions.

The entire Sonoma County Board of Supervisors opened the Community Forum on Mental Health by addressing the gravity of the issue.

“One thing I know is that there has never been a time in our society where we need mental health care more than right now,” said Supervisor Chris Coursey, chair of the Board of Supervisors. “There are so many reasons. Our economy doesn’t work for very many people. Our politics don’t work for most people. We have so many issues to deal with in our lives. The social construct has been frayed for three years by the pandemic and that has impacts throughout society from kindergarten classrooms to corporate offices.”

Supervisor Lynda Hopkins facilitated a panel on substance use disorder, which explored prevention strategies and stigma-reducing approaches as well as harm reduction, early intervention and recovery strategies. The panel on mental health and wellness needs, moderated by Supervisor James Gore, examined emerging trends in mental health care, including lessons learned during fires, floods and the pandemic.

Supervisor David Rabbitt’s panel on crisis services and suicide prevention featured a discussion on crisis intervention teams such as Petaluma’s SAFE program, Santa Rosa’s InRESPONSE and the county’s Mobile Support Team, which accompany law enforcement on calls to individuals in psychiatric distress.

During the panel on workforce challenges and solutions, moderated by Supervisor Coursey, Behavioral Health Division Director Jan Cobaleda-Kegler said the division has a 28 percent staff vacancy rate, up from 13 percent in June 2021. The increasing cost of living in Sonoma County combined with mental health care industry-wide burnout have made recruitment and retention difficult.

Despite the challenges, Department of Health Services Director Tina Rivera said that the county would use the participant feedback from the forum to reinvigorate its work to find solutions. The forum was funded by Measure O, the quarter-cent sales tax measure voters approved in 2020 to fund mental health and homelessness services. Rivera said Measure O would significantly bolster the county’s efforts to address this unprecedented mental health crisis.

“This discussion will help inform some funding opportunities with Measure O that we are going to be bringing forward to address these challenges,” Rivera said. “We are so grateful for the taxpayers who passed Measure O.”

To see a complete recording of the Community Forum on Mental Health, click here.

### 
Media Contact: 
Matt Brown, Communications Specialist 
publicaffairs@sonoma-county.org
(707) 565-3040
575 Administration Drive, Suite 104A
Santa Rosa, CA 95403