An expansion project is underway at Community Counseling Center (CCC), a nonprofit specializing in affordable brief therapy for the low to moderate income and under-insured. The agency has been in operation since 1968 and is currently the single largest training center for pre-licensed marriage and family therapists, clinical social workers, and doctoral level Psy.D.s and Ph.D.s in San Luis Obispo County (41 combined year to date). CCC has been working to expand mental health services in Northern Santa Barbara County through stimulation of current volunteer program capacity and exploratory collaboration and outreach efforts in the region.
In recent years CCC has serviced more clients from Santa Maria, Guadalupe, and Lompoc (more than 25 combined unduplicated last year). The opening of satellite sites through Family Resource Centers in Nipomo and Oceano in the mid 2000s paved the way for a more contiguous service area. A branch office opened in Grover Beach in the spring of 2013 in partnership with Compass Health Inc. enhancing that momentum.
Concrete data supporting the overall mental health needs of Santa Barbara County’s disenfranchised and the specific disparities in service access in the northern regions is made evident in the report “A Snapshot of Poverty on Santa Barbara County” (2013). Regarding issues of health care access, mental health care showed the greatest need for increased access. The areas with the highest percentage of people without health insurance include Guadalupe, Santa Maria, and Lompoc.
According to the report: “Ten census tracts in Santa Maria … and the census tract encompassing Guadalupe all have uninsured rates over 20 percent”—while “one fifth of people in the Lompoc high poverty area are uninsured.” When service providers were asked to rank what they see as their clients’ greatest challenges to moving out of poverty by “high,” “medium,” or “low”—under the area of “health,” accessing mental health scored highest at 39 percent, outpacing access to physical care by 10 percent.
Disparate service levels are part of a historical funding bias by public and private funders toward organizations and programs within the city of Santa Barbara proper—and in the southern region of the county. Substantial efforts have been made to shore up these regional inequities as organizations such as Transitions Mental Health Association (TMHA), Child Abuse Listening and Mediation (CALM), and Casa Pacifica have taken root over the past five to 10 years. Long established behavioral health nonprofits like Santa Maria Valley Youth and Family and the Pacific Pride Center buoyed the community for decades prior to the widespread formation of public awareness around the service deficits for the economically disadvantaged in the northern region.
While the Santa Barbara County Behavioral Health Department plays a large role in northern Santa Barbara County, its focus is on the emergency level and managed care services for individuals with chronic and persistent mental illness. Programs like CCC occupy the front to middle end of the continuum of care, and deliver both preventive and treatment approaches for the mild to moderate clientele.
Since receiving express grant funding from the Santa Barbara Foundation in 2014 to expand mental health services in North County, a pilot satellite site in Santa Maria was launched. Increased awareness at Brandman and Antioch universities, as well as among other community-based behavioral health providers (CALM, Santa Maria Valley Youth and Family, and TMHA) in the area has quickly given rise to the number of graduate level and intern applicants seeking therapy training placements through CCC in Northern Santa Barbara County.
Co-located with another nonprofit called the Center for Human Understanding and Growth (CHUG), headed up by Ole von Frausing-Borch, LMFT/RN, the CCC Santa Maria site is currently based at 301 S. Miller Street, suite 112 (adjacent to the Town Center Mall). To further enhance the project and more effectively bridge county lines, CCC is in need of volunteers in a variety of capacities, the most distinct of which is clinical supervision for the agency’s stable of growing pre-licensed therapists based in southern SLO or northern Santa Barbara County. CCC is also seeking out referrals from agencies, schools/universities, family members and friends, hospitals, and private practices to bolster the current community practice of six volunteers. Two of the therapists are bilingual Spanish/English speaking.
Community Counseling Center’s expansion coincides with a change in the agency’s ability to receive reimbursement for services provided to clients carrying Medi-Cal/CenCal. The project is part of a collaboration with the Holman Group, a privately operated behavioral health HMO that has the local CenCal contractor. Pursuing direct payment and helping clients utilize insurance coverage through the agency is a major milestone—and a step that should benefit the clients that may struggle to afford the $20 minimum sliding scale fee.
It’s no secret that communities with the best health outcomes, happiest people, and greatest overall vitality are those that offer a tapestry of accessible mental health services to the economically vulnerable. CCC is excited to join the behavioral health service fabric existing in the region and add the capacity necessary to put service levels on par with other regions of Santa Barbara County.
James Statler is the executive director of the Community Counseling Center. He can be reached by email at director@cccslo.com or by phone at 543-7969. For more information about the CCC, visit cccslo.com.
This article appears in May 14-21, 2015.