In a united front to tackle the escalating crisis of mental health and substance abuse issues, the Napa County Board of Supervisors has given the green light to a plan to convert the county's Reentry Facility into a Behavioral Health Treatment Center. According to an official statement from Napa County, the retooling of the 72-bed complex, originally established in 2019, comes with an injection of $8.2 million from the Community Corrections Partnership Fund, supplemented by $500,000 from the Capital Improvement Program Fund, and an additional $300,000 from the Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA).
Board Chair Anne Cottrell voiced the collective resolve stating that the initiative will “strengthen our system of care for our most vulnerable residents,” while directly addressing the necessity for increased residential treatment options and providing a constructive environment for those in dire need of such facilities, despite the run-on sentence that undermines the formality and clarity of the statement. The upcoming treatment hub is designed with three key HHSA programs in mind: a Residential Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Withdrawal Management program, a Mental Health Rehabilitation Center sanctioned by the Lanterman-Petris-Short (LPS) Act, and a Sobering Center that aims to redirect adults under the influence away from potential incarceration towards immediate care.
HHSA Director Jennifer Yasumoto emphasized the project's significance, asserting, per Napa County, "This project is a strategic repurposing of an existing County asset, and I am grateful to the Board of Supervisors and the CCP in supporting HHSA’s goal of expanding our behavioral health treatment infrastructure to meet our community’s needs." The manifold benefits spelled out by Yasumoto spotlight the center's potential for alleviating problems at the overflowing Napa State Hospital while coalescing divergent new programs.
