A special project is being proposed by Butte County Behavioral Health that will benefit Everhart Village and your input can help make it happen.
If this proposal is approved by the state, it will provide substantial funding for Butte County Behavioral Health to create the "Resilience Empowerment Support Team" (REST) to do intensive outreach with people with mental illness who are living in camps and on the streets of Chico. Behavioral Health did a 3-4 month pilot project earlier this year where they found they were able to successfully bring 46% of the homeless mentally ill people they worked with into mental health services. With the REST project, Behavioral Health will work hand-in-hand with Everhart Village: Everhart will provide a place people can be safe and secure while they start gaining back their health, and the REST program will provide the needed mental health services to move them toward long term stability.
You can read the full 65-page REST project proposal here. The aspects of the program that would help Everhart Village and other shelters are described on page 11 of the report. Behavioral Health needs to show support from the community for the REST proposal in order to receive funding for it, so if you believe in this project, we'd like for you to send an email to MHSA@buttecounty.net, or drop off handwritten feedback to the Administrative Office at 3217 Cohasset Rd in Chico. Comments must be received by Jan. 19th to make an impact.
Here's a sample email to start with. Adding your own personal comments will make more of an impact:
I support the Butte County Behavioral Health proposal for a "Resilience Empowerment Support Team" (REST) to do intensive outreach with people with mental illness who are living in camps and on the streets of Chico. Many folks living in homelessness have mental illness or develop it while homeless, and there's a clear need for this direct outreach. Also, I believe that the team's work with clients at Everhart Village will greatly improve the outcomes for Everhart Village clients which will benefit our community. Thank you for this chance for the community to give our input.
You may also provide verbal feedback at a public hearing, which will be held virtually at the January Behavioral Health Advisory Board meeting on Jan. 19th. For more information about this meeting, please visit the Butte County Behavioral Health Advisory Board webpage, which will have details soon about how to join the January meeting on Zoom. Thank you for providing your input to support this worthwhile proposal!