Marin County will have more options for people in need of psychiatric help when a new health center opens in Santa Rosa next month.
The county has secured two beds for 20 years at a cost of $500,000 at a Sonoma County-owned facility at 7440 Los Guilicos Road that underwent a $4.6 million renovation. Like Sonoma County, Marin will pay Crestwood Behavioral Health $1,000 per day to staff each of its two beds.
“The need for additional psychiatric beds in the Bay Area has reached a critical stage, and we in Marin are especially excited to partner with Sonoma County on this important project to establish more opportunities for many people, in the years coming, work. toward wellness and recovery close to home,” said Benita McLarin, director of the Marin County Department of Health and Human Services.
Jei Africa, director of the Marin County Division of Behavioral Health and Recovery Services, said the county sends about 60% of the roughly 100 Marin residents who require a psychiatric bed each year out of the county because of a lack of beds in Marin.
People experiencing a mental health crisis in Marin are initially brought to a county site at MarinHealth Medical Center in Greenbrae for evaluation. The site has a maximum of 10 beds, eight for adults and two for youth. By law, patients can stay on site for no more than 24 hours.
When it comes time to move patients, there are often no beds available at the county’s only inpatient mental health center, a 17-bed site adjacent to the crisis site. The nearest bed is found at another hospital, but sometimes it can be as far away as the Central Valley or Southern California.
Africa said the cost of inpatient beds typically ranges from $1,100 to $1,500 per day, depending on the location of the center and its experience. There is a shortage of psychiatric beds throughout the state.
“The cost has risen steadily in recent years,” Africa said.
Marin County is spending about $10 million a year for its residential psychiatric placements.
Africa said not all patients leaving the county’s crisis site require the level of care and supervision provided at the 17-bed inpatient facility, which is closed. The county also operates Casa Rene in San Rafael, a short-term crisis residential program for 10 adult patients.
The county is in the process of converting a building at 920 Grand Ave. in San Rafael into a 16-bed transitional residential treatment center for adults with serious mental illness and substance use disorders at a cost of $4.84 million.
Two Project Homekey housing projects are in the works at 1591 Casa Buena Drive in Corte Madera and 3301 Kerner Blvd. in SanRafael. Both will set aside a portion of their apartments for chronically homeless people with some degree of mental illness. Apartments for the mentally ill will be reserved for approximately half of the 18 residences planned for the Corte Madera project, while the 44 apartments in the San Rafael Homekey project are earmarked for people with mental illness.
Marin County has also applied to the state for funding to develop a third Homekey site at 1251 S. Elisha Drive in Larkspur. About half of the apartments would be reserved for homeless people with serious mental illness.
Africa said none of these apartments will reduce demand for the kind of psychiatric beds the county is paying for.
“Those people can go out into the community and get outpatient services,” Africa said.
Africa said that patients who are housed at Casa René and who will be housed in the new San Rafael residential treatment center require “24/7 care.”
Africa said demand for psychiatric beds in Marin could grow as the county moves forward in its effort to divert more of the mentally ill from the Marin County jail. He said all inmates are currently screened for mental illness when they enter jail, and 17 people were diverted from jail to behavioral treatment programs in 2021.
Africa said there is psychiatrist coverage in jail 28 hours a week, and a licensed doctor is provided 20 hours a day, seven days a week. He said 1,300 inmates were tested at the jail in 2021, with 39% receiving services from behavioral health staff.
