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Recommendation to direct City Manager to work with the Department of Health and Human Services and local mental health providers to explore the feasibility of establishing a more robust infrastructure for mental health services in collaboration and alignment with local mental health providers in Long Beach and the County of Los Angeles.
DISCUSSION
For the purpose of:
• Increasing access to mental health services across the City, including for schools.
• Increasing direct funding into the City for mental health services, particularly for mental health crisis response, coordination across programs and residential supports.
• Localizing and improving crisis mental health response and connection to services.
• Streamlining the City’s processes for coordination and access to services.
• Expanding the availability of residential care facilities and access in Long Beach, including hospital step-down beds.
• Providing more opportunities for engagement with local institutions for higher education and expand opportunities for social work and nursing student field placement to expand workforce potential.
Background
The City of Long Beach is home to the largest municipal health department in the state of California, with 550 employees and a budget of $170 million. Each year, the Department of Health and Human Services provides over 350,000 public health visits, 300,000 food and nutrition vouchers, 7,800 food facility inspections, 5,400 miles of spraying for mosquitoes, 2,700 public health nurse visits, 780 recreational water tests, and assists over 7,000 homeless individuals with locating housing and other services.'
The Department led, and continues to lead, Long Beach through the COVID-19 pandemic by standing up ambitious contact-tracing and testing programs, providing more than 350,000 vaccines free of charge to Long Beach residents, and leading the push to provide booster shots to the City's most vulnerable residents. HHS vaccinates over 1,600 reside...
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