Updating the Mental Health Services Act by approving Proposition 1 last spring spelled closure for one crisis service resource in San Luis Obispo County.
The SLO County Behavioral Health Department notified the public through Instagram and Facebook posts on Feb. 22 that the four-bed crisis stabilization unit on SLO’s Johnson Avenue shuttered. While the county’s webpage on crisis stabilization services said that the facility has been closed since Jan. 1, the unit stopped providing care even earlier.
“Our CSU [crisis stabilization unit] was temporarily closed over the fall and wintertime,” Behavioral Health spokesperson Caroline Schmidt told New Times. “The Health Agency just looked at our other service priorities at this time and decided to close the crisis stabilization unit just so that we can focus on enhancing the mobile crisis efforts.”
The crisis stabilization unit aimed to reduce the demand for the 16 beds available at the county psychiatric health facility. The round-the-clock unit was a voluntary residential care facility that equipped people with individual and family counseling, medication monitoring, life skills enhancement, and follow-up service plans—all while bypassing the need for them to be admitted to an inpatient psychiatric hospital setting.
The Mental Health Services Act funded the unit. A one-time amount of $971,070 from the California Health Facilities Financing Authority in 2015 helped the county health agency construct it. But the annual $1.8 million cost of running the unit surpassed the county’s ability to receive enough Medi-Cal reimbursement to lower the expense.
Not enough people were using the four beds available.
“We were averaging just under two clients per day, and only for a few hours, when we would need to serve nearly three or four per day to meet costs,” Schmidt said. “Some of that is also due to the fact that our county has a lower Medi-Cal reimbursement rate for crisis stabilization than other counties.”
According to her, since Proposition 1 would shrink the Mental Health Services Act budget for current programs by 30 percent—starting in July 2027—SLO County would be able to divert the money that would have gone to the stabilization unit to support other programs that people use more often.
But the claim of the crisis stabilization unit being underused isn’t new. A December 2023 Transitions-Mental Health Association (TMHA) youth gap analysis report produced in partnership with county Behavioral Health reached the same conclusion.
TMHA found that although the unit could be used more, it ignored youth by restricting services to adults.
The unit has also had some controversy. Five months after the TMHA report publication, 19-year-old Elina Branco of Paso Robles died while being treated at the unit. A federal lawsuit filed in September 2024 by her mother, Linda Cooper, alleged Branco was dead for hours under staff supervision and that they falsified records. The county didn’t respond to New Times’ request for comment by press time.
Both the unit and the now-prioritized mobile crisis team are staffed through contracts with Sierra Mental Wellness Group. The county ended the unit’s contract in October 2024.
SLO-based licensed marriage and family therapist Trinity Berguia told New Times that the sudden closure of the unit came as a surprise.
“It has been a helpful resource to the community,” Berguia said. “There is very little information, if any at all, about why the closure happened. My understanding of the resource SLO Behavioral Health would like people to use in replacement of the CSU would be calling the Behavioral Health Mobile Crisis Team at 1-800-783-0607. I have used the Mental Health Evaluation Team many times, and they have been helpful as well.”
The closest substitute, according to Berguia, lies in the next county south.
Patients can access the outpatient psychiatric unit (OPU) at Marian Regional Medical Center in Santa Maria. They must check themselves into the ER and get medically cleared before being transferred to the outpatient unit. A patient spends 31 hours, on average, in this unit.
“Here, they will speak to a psychiatrist within one hour of arriving at the OPU,” Berguia said. “They will then be monitored. If their symptoms are decreased and manageable they can be released with a treatment plan or if they need a higher level of care, they can be transferred to an inpatient psychiatric facility.”
Behavioral Health also recommended the Santa Maria facility. Other options include calling or texting the crisis team for the 24/7 Central Coast Hotline; requesting a mobile crisis response through the hotline number; calling (820) 280-0415 to check bed availability at the sobering center; accessing walk-in clinics on weekdays at the Prevention and Outreach offices at 277 South St., suite T; and calling (800) 838-1381 for the adults and referrals-only Crestwood Psychiatric Health Facility.
“I think a lot of people, through COVID and through some of the other incidents that happen as life goes on, maybe need that crisis support directly in their communities, rather than going to the facility,” Schmidt said. “Mobile crisis team members, they’re there to travel to the incident.” Δ
This article appears in Weddings 2025.