About 200 people have been admitted to the Santa Barbara County Behavioral Wellness Crisis Stabilization Services Unit since it reopened as a “locked” facility last year, officials said.

The crisis stabilization unit offers short-term stays for people experiencing an acute mental health crisis. It was underutilized as a voluntary admission facility in the past, and had closures due to staffing shortages.

Officials have hoped the ability to involuntarily commit people, and the larger size of eight beds, would increase the number of people served.

On Tuesday the Santa Barbara County Supervisors received an update from the County Behavioral Wellness department about how things have been going since the reopening in May 2024. 

The crisis stabilization unit at 4444 Calle Real in Santa Barbara is operated by Crestwood Behavioral Health as an eight-bed facility providing 24/7 services. Individuals can stay up to 24 hours. Services include rehabilitation, counseling, case management, medication services, and discharge planning. 

The number of patients has been growing each month since July, with the average stay being a little over 22 hours. John Winckler of Behavioral Wellness said they expect to see the number of patients continue to grow in the coming months. 

Winckler said 81% of patients were referred to the crisis stabilization unit by Cottage Hospital, and other patients were referred by Behavioral Wellness, Lompoc Valley Medical Center. Some patients admitted themselves voluntarily. 

Winckler said they want to focus on improving engagement with law enforcement and have law enforcement bring in more patients, rather than taking them to the jail. 

Winckler explained that they’ve heard from law enforcement officers that they would rather take patients to the jail because it takes less time to drop them off there. Winckler said they have been working on streamlining the referral process with law enforcement so that it’s easier to bring patients to the crisis stabilization unit.

The low number of referrals from law enforcement may also have to do with the way the crisis stabilization unit was previously operated. 

“It was much more of a medical model and a voluntary unit, and we did have issues with law enforcement coming and trying to drop folks off that maybe weren’t medically appropriate for the facility, and as soon as law enforcement gets a bad taste in their mouth it’s hard to undo that,” Winckler said.

Winckler said that the new facility is operated differently and made to be more welcoming. 

“We haven’t had any issues with them turning someone away, and so we’re really hopeful as law enforcement starts to use that and get familiar with it, they’ll be using it more,” Winckler said.

Once discharged, 43% of patients went home or back into the community. The rest went to a crisis residential treatment center, supportive housing, an outpatient clinic, inpatient psychiatric facility, or a hospital emergency department, according to Behavioral Wellness.

The department also updated the Board of Supervisors on the Stabilization Center, also known as the sobering center, at 427 Camino Del Remedio in Santa Barbara. 

The sobering center has seen 469 patients since July 1 and had 820 patients in the previous 2023-2024 fiscal year. 

The sobering center serves as a temporary transition space for individuals who are leaving jail and entering the community or are entering a behavioral health residential program. Patients can usually stay for 24-72 hours; however, longer stays are permitted on a case-by-case basis. 

The center is funded by Proposition 47 grant funds, which are scheduled to end this December. Winckler said they are already looking for ways to keep the center going once the grant ends. 

The average length of stay so far in fiscal year 2024-25 has been 44 hours and 39 minutes, while the average stay in fiscal year 2023-24 was 40 hours and 20 minutes. 

In both years, 60% of the patients discharged went home or back into the community. The rest went to a substance use disorder treatment provider, hospital, mental health provider, or law enforcement. 

Patients were referred to the sobering center by hospitals, the community, law enforcement, mental health providers, and substance use disorder treatment providers. 

When asked how many referrals from law enforcement they would like to see, Winckler said they would like to see a model similar to Santa Cruz’s, in which anyone accused of public intoxication or a first-time driving-under-the-influence offense go to the sobering center rather than the jail. 

Winckler said they probably won’t see this exact model in Santa Barbara County, but they do hope to see something similar at some point. 

“This is a much better way for someone to sober up than a jail,” Winckler said. “If they’re not dangerous and they’re not a risk to the community, they don’t need to sit in a jail to sober up; they can come to the sobering center to do that.”

Winckler said this would save the jail a lot of time and manpower as well as being a better way to treat the community.