Nearly $2 million in local funding will be going towards the construction of a youth-oriented behavioral health facility in Anderson. However, the decision to award the funds was not without debate from the Shasta County Board of Supervisors.
The 60-bed facility, called the Pathways to Leadership Campus Expansion, is designed to help local youth struggling with mental health and substance abuse challenges. The organization, which will be responsible for operating the campus, Family Dynamics Resource Center, was awarded $1.9 million by the county in order to secure a $24.7 million grant from the state. But before the funds were awarded, a disagreement between Supervisors Allen Long and Kevin Crye sparked debate over how behavioral health services should be administered.
Dr. Sandra Wilson, Executive Clinical Director & Supervisor of Family Dynamics, identified a strong need for a facility of this kind in the area, saying that there are no in-patient adolescent substance use treatment facilities north of Sacramento.
But Long, a former sworn officer for the Redding Police Department, drew on his law enforcement experience to express doubt over the effectiveness of such a facility. In particular, Long recalled his experience with youth service facilities in the area including Remi Vista and Victor Youth Services, which presented problems for police because they were not locked facilities.
“It’s one of those situations where the juveniles that were part of these facilities, they would just walk away. And we would go and take a runaway report, a 601 report, and we would enter them into the system, and then they were out and they were committing violent crimes … and once they committed crimes they became a member of our justice system …” said Long.
Long also expressed concern that Family Dynamics does not have the experience required to run such a facility.
Crye called Wilson up to respond to Long’s criticisms, who said that in order to be admitted to the campus’ services, youth must “be motivated to get well” and must sign a written agreement. Wilson said that Family Dynamics has put on multiple one-week camps over the past 10 years serving about 70 youth, and in those 10 years none have run away.
Supervisor Corkey Harmon said he loved “the idea that it’s not a lockdown,” and that having the campus be a locked facility would be the “wrong direction.”
“That’s just not what works. That’s not what this program is. This program is about loving on these kids, and getting inside their mind and making them want to succeed,” said Harmon.
In response to Long’s critiques, Crye also accused Long of “double speak and political maneuvering,” recalling that Long had supported the True North Behavioral Health Campus, a past proposed behavioral health treatment facility.
Long disagreed with Crye, saying True North was “entirely different” because it was a locked facility and it had the support of local law enforcement, while the Pathways to Leadership Campus has not yet received support from law enforcement.
Supervisor Matt Plummer expressed concern that Family Dynamics had not gotten letters of support from Anderson Police Department or the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office.
A stipulation was later added that county funds will be provided to Family Dynamics on the condition that they get letters of support from either APD or the sheriff’s office for the project.
The board ultimately voted 4-1 to send a letter of support for the campus and give Family Dynamics $1.9 million in opioid settlement funds. Long was the only dissenting vote.
The planned campus will be 25,000 square feet, and include four separate facilities designed to meet the needs of youth at different points on their recovery journey. These four facilities will include a “20-bed children’s crisis residential program,” a “30-bed adolescent substance use treatment center,” a 10-bed apartment-style “stabilization and transitional care” facility for aging youth, and a publicly available mental health counseling center.
Drew Askeland covers Redding and Shasta County government issues, as well as anything else that needs reporting for the Record Searchlight and USA Today Network. Reach him at drew.askeland@redding.com or (530) 225-8247. To support and sustain this work, please subscribe today. Thank you.
This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Shasta youth mental health campus gets a nod despite debate
Reporting by Drew Askeland, Redding Record Searchlight / Redding Record Searchlight
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