In a new San Diego Union-Tribune article, Steinberg Institute CEO Karen Larsen weighed in on San Diego County’s proposed $210 million Behavioral Health Wellness Campus — a plan to bring multiple levels of mental health and substance use treatment under one roof.
The project, which the county hopes to fund through a $100 million Proposition 1 grant, would create a “one-stop shop” for behavioral health care by bringing crisis stabilization, residential treatment, social rehabilitation, substance use care, and outpatient services in one location.
“It’s very in line with what the state intended with this funding,” Larsen told the Union-Tribune. “They were very clear that they will be favoring these kinds of campus models where you have sort of a one-stop shop for people with both mental health and substance use disorders.”
As California counties begin implementing reforms under Proposition 1 and the Behavioral Health Services Act, San Diego’s proposal represents the kind of integrated, person-centered model envisioned by policymakers statewide to close gaps in care and prevent people from falling through the cracks.
“One of the biggest problems for people struggling with mental health and substance abuse issues is those transitions of care,” Larsen said. “That’s less likely to happen if everything’s on the same campus.”
Read the full San Diego Union-Tribune article here.