Forty years ago, Transitions-Mental Health Association (TMHA) was founded with the goal of helping people leaving state mental health hospitals reintegrate into the community by teaching them basic skills such as cooking or budgeting. Four decades later, TMHA has expanded on this goal with numerous other programs offered throughout Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.
The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors recognized the organization’s dedication to helping people with mental health illnesses at its May 7 meeting by proclaiming May 2019 as TMHA month.
During the meeting, TMHA Executive Director Jill Bolster-White, who has been with the organization for 29 years, thanked the board and pointed out the work the group has accomplished since its inception.
“For 40 years, [TMHA] has been working to help people with mental health diagnoses work toward recovery in various ways,” Bolster-White said during the meeting. “And we also add value by working closely with Hancock College, [and] we’ve done outreach and education to high school students locally.”
In addition to this outreach, Bolster-White told the Sun that the organization now offers programs focused on employment, support groups, family services, and community education, along with a crisis hotline that individuals can call for help.
In Santa Maria, TMHA runs a program called Growing Grounds Farm, which employs people who have mental health illnesses that affect their ability to find a job. The farm is located on 3 acres of land on Foster Road where workers grow vegetables, flowers, and herbs and sell the products in a farm stand that’s open on Thursdays.
Bolster-White said employees at the farm go through an application and interview process and are paid minimum wage. The long-term goal of the program is to provide people with work experience that can prepare them to find jobs in the community.
“A lot of the symptoms of persistent mental illnesses are isolating … and can really make it uncomfortable to get back up and to get back to work,” Bolster-White said. “The whole idea behind a program like Growing Grounds Farm is to reconnect people and ideally get them ready to go into the community and get a job.”
With its services split between Santa Barbara and SLO counties, Bolster-White said there are some differences in how TMHA provides its services in each area. For example, she said homelessness is more visible in San Luis Obispo than in Santa Maria, although it’s an issue in both cities.
There are also cultural differences that change how TMHA staff interact with clients. For example, in Santa Maria TMHA offers more bilingual services to ensure they can communicate with all residents, Bolster-White said.
In addition to helping people dealing with mental illnesses, TMHA runs community education programs that provide individuals with the tools to look for signs and symptoms of mental illnesses. This includes teaching people about what depression looks like and how to best interact with somebody suffering from the disorder.
Bolster-White said teaching people about mental illnesses could go a long way in reducing associated negative perceptions.
“It’s important because mental illness is one of the most stigmatizing disorders there is,” Bolster-white said. “And so we’re trying to explain to the public that there are steps you can take to help … and people actually can recover.”
Highlights:
• The city of Santa Maria is holding two workshops to educate the public on the importance of the 2020 census to ensure a complete count of all residents. According to the city, an accurate count is critical because the numbers affect how much the city, county, and local schools receive in state and federal funding. If the city is undercounted, then it will not receive the correct amount of funding. The meetings both take place between noon and 1 p.m. on May 29 and June 5 at the library.
Staff Writer Zac Ezzone wrote this week’s Biz Spotlight. Information should be sent to the Sun via fax, mail, or email at spotlight@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in May 23-30, 2019.