The Santa Barbara nonprofit organization PathPoint, which provides support and services to people with disabilities and mental illness, opened a counseling center for Medi-Cal patients next door to its office at 315 W. Haley Street in Santa Barbara this October.
Demand for mental health counseling and therapy has escalated since the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which vastly expanded the number of people eligible for Medi-Cal. But the influx of the newly insured was met with a dearth of therapists to see them.
PathPoint’s behavioral health division serves about 250 people, but the organization saw a gap of care between people who were severely mentally ill and could be seen by county programs and others who needed care in the community or who lacked insurance.
Now that many of those people are covered by Medi-Cal, the counseling center may help take some pressure off local demand. Within two weeks of opening, the counseling center had 14 referrals, an affirmation of the need.
http://www.noozhawk.com/article/pathpoint_opens_new_counseling_center_in_santa_barbara_20151129
