SLO nonprofit gets $1.5 million from state to help people with mental illness
Housing, family support and staffing shortages are among the areas that will benefit after the state of California awarded more than $1.5 million to San Luis Obispo nonprofit organization Transitions-Mental Health Association.
The group is dedicated to helping people with mental illness through work, housing, community and family support services.
In February, Transitions-Mental Health’s Housing First initiative at Palm Street Studios received a Community Care Expansion grant of $819,000, the nonprofit said in a news release release Monday.
Palm Street Studios consists of eight units located in San Luis Obispo designated for adults living with serious mental disorders who are considered homeless, chronically homeless or at risk of becoming chronically homeless, the release said.
Individuals living at Palm Street Studios are in the lowest income sector, the release said, receiving about $315 to $860 per month in aid.
“Housing remains one of our greatest priorities, and the Housing First program has demonstrated consistent in success in helping folks stabilize and access the services they need,” TMHA executive director Jill Bolster-White said in the release.
Later in the year, TMHA received more than $300,000 from the California Department of Health Care Services’ Behavioral Health Recruitment and Retention grant, the release said.
The funding is part of $23 million that was distributed to 81 nonprofit, tribal, and county-operated behavioral health providers to expand the state’s behavioral health care workforce, according to a June 27 news release from Health Care Services.
That funding award is split into two phases, starting with three months of strategic planning.
That will be followed by a 19-month implementation that will allow the nonprofit to distribute the remaining funds by providing referral bonuses and student loan repayments, the release said.
There will also be a new marketing campaign encouraging people to seek clinical jobs and careers at Transitions-Mental Health.
Transitions-Mental Health human resources director Kristen Alexander said that the nonprofit has been struggling to retain clinical, case management and team leaders in recent years.
“We lose employees regularly to the Behavioral Health Departments in both San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties, and at the moment we’ve got 17 open positions,” Alexander said in the release. “This grant will really help us re-set the table.”
Finally, TMHA will receive a Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative grant worth more than $350,000, the state announced July 6.
According to Health Care Services, the grants are intended to promote social and emotional well-being in children and youth under the age of 25.
The funding will expand Transitions-Mental Health’s Family Services Program so it can provide free parent education to applicants, TMHA family services program manager Shawn Ison said in the release.
The Positive Parenting Program is intended to help parents navigate misbehavior and build strong family relationships, according to the nonprofit’s website.
“We have classes in both English and Spanish,” Ison said in the release. “They really focus on effective tools for parents of children with a range of emotional disabilities and elevated levels of dysregulation and disruptive behavior.”
This story was originally published July 11, 2023 at 8:00 AM.
