Behavioral health

Supervisor Jim Desmond

5th District

Last week, I shared some successes and my vision for 2022, when it comes to public safety. This week, I want to share some of the accomplishments we've had in North County and talk about what I'm focused on when it comes to behavioral health!

Behavioral health is a major issue that continues to grow during COVID-19. We’ve all seen people on the side of the street or know of friends or family members in crisis in need of help and, unfortunately, North County has been under-resourced. I'm pleased to say over the past three years, we've made major strides in behavioral health resources, allocating $140 million in new projects.

A few months ago, I was part of a ribbon-cutting for the new Crisis Stabilization Unit in Vista. This is a place open to family members, law enforcement, and others to take those suffering from a mental health episode to be evaluated. Also, I've continued to work with the City of Oceanside and County Behavioral Health Services to open a Crisis Stabilization Center at the Live Well Center in Oceanside.

This will be open later this year!

A couple years ago, I authored a Board Letter to partner with Tri-City Medical Center to build a 16-bed Psychiatric Health Facility for those in extreme crisis that will be open to all residents. This will help our police officers who need to be out patrolling rather than driving those suffering behavioral health issues down to the City of San Diego. We are expecting to break ground on this facility shortly.

Those are just a few items I'm working on when it comes to behavioral health. If there's something you would like to see addressed, please email me: [email protected] and my office will get back to you shortly!