Mental health, substance abuse program funded -Ventura County (CA) Star

By Kathleen Wilson

Ventura County has won $670,000 in state funding to expand a nationally recognized program for people struggling with both mental illness and substance abuse.

Psychologist Linda Gertson, who oversees the program, said new sites will probably open in July in Ventura and the east county. They will replicate the strategies used by an Oxnard team recognized last year for incorporating "best practices" — methods shown to work on the intertwined problems of substance abuse and mental illness.

Gertson expects more than 80 clients can be added to the county Behavioral Health Department program, which now has 125 clients.

In the past, counselors tried and failed to treat mental illness and addiction separately, Gertson said. Under the approach used by the Oxnard team, specialists trained in both fields counsel people in one setting, rather than shifting them from expert to expert and site to site.

The state funding comes from an income tax on millionaires that California voters passed in 2004 to transform care of the mentally ill.

Gertson said a seven-member team will work out of the department's Ventura office at 4258 Telegraph Road, joining the one in Oxnard at 1911 Williams Drive.

A satellite office with two professionals will probably work out of the county health center at the Mountaingate Plaza in Simi Valley and serve the entire east county.

The programs mainly serve people who are low-income and rely on Medi-Cal public insurance.

The federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration recognized the program last year in its Science to Service awards.

For more information, call 981-4200.