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Encompass breaks ground at Sí Se Puede site!

  • Jun 25, 2024
  • 3 min read

We did it! On Friday, June 21st, we officially broke ground on the new, state-of-the-art Sí Se Puede Behavioral Health Center at 161 Miles Lane in Watsonville. With over 150 guests in attendance including government officials, Encompass staff, community partners, and graduates of the Sí Se Puede program, it was a special event celebrating this important milestone for our agency.


“Today, we are recognizing an incredible milestone. A dream becoming a reality.”, exclaimed Monica Martinez, Encompass CEO and MC of the event. The event celebrated the program’s rich history with tables displaying memorabilia and artifacts from the past 30 years, photos commemorating the program’s impact displayed on easels throughout the tent (special thanks to Jessica Powell), and the presence of many graduates and founders who came out to celebrate the milestone.


After Monica welcomed everyone, Patrick Orozco, Tribal Leader of the Ohlone Native American Tribe, blessed and dedicated the land, followed by remarks from our invited speakers: Jorge Guiterrez, Sí Se Puede’s current Program Manager, Gabriel Tapia, Program Clinical Counselor and graduate of the program, John Laird, California State Senator District 17, Felipe Hernandez, 4th District Supervisor, Santa Cruz County, Michael Schrader, CEO, Central California Alliance for Health (CCAH), and Elaine Johnson, Chair of the Encompass Board of Trustees.


The event concluded with special individual recognition to the many individuals and community partners who helped make this day possible, followed by the official “dig” to symbolize that construction has begun.


The History of Sí Se Puede

The Sí Se Puede program began over 30 years ago when a group of Latinx men recognized that there was no place for their community to recover and heal. So, together, they founded the first bilingual treatment program in Watsonville and they called the space “Sí Se Puede”, meaning “Yes, you can” in Spanish. The Latino founders also recognized the tribal history here on the native land, and incorporated native practices into the residents’ recovery including a sweat lodge and other Native American customs.


The New Behavioral Health Center

The upcoming Sí Se Puede Behavioral Health Center is projected to deliver high-quality, accessible, and personalized substance use disorder (SUD) and mental health treatment to more than 1,300 community members a year. The new campus will allow Encompass to meet every individual where they are in their recovery journey through connected programs with varying levels of care – from residential and outpatient treatment to family therapy – all in an atmosphere of dignity and respect where those seeking treatment can thrive.  

The capital project includes the construction of 2 buildings on the site: a Residential Center and an Outpatient Treatment Center. The Residential Center is a 7,766 square foot 30-bed residential treatment building featuring group and one-on-one therapy rooms, a medical clinic, an industrial kitchen, spacious dining and recreational areas, a client intake room, a client computer use space, designated exercise areas, and an outdoor courtyard. The Residential Center will also offer services to the Transition Age Youth (TAY) population, which is new, thanks to funding to support youth provided by the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS). The Outpatient Treatment Center is designed to be a 3,864 square program building including a medical clinic and numerous therapy and treatment spaces. Both facilities will be welcoming spaces to continue to lift up the culture that has been celebrated here for decades.


Encompass also partnered with Mid-Pen Housing, one of our areas most respected and trusted affordable housing developers, so that the property will also include 75 units of affordable housing next door to our Center.  


The timing couldn’t be more urgent, as we continue to see a dramatic rise in opioid and fentanyl related overdoses and deaths. This culturally appropriate, high-quality, evidence-based program will truly save lives.  


Thank you to our Community Partners

Our Sí Se Puede Behavioral Health Center project is being funded through a BHCIP grant (the Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program through the California Department of Health Care Services) as well as through a variety of additional sources, including generous philanthropists, and public and private grants from the Central California Alliance for Health, Monterey Peninsula Foundation, Kaiser Permanente, The City of Watsonville, and Community Foundation Santa Cruz County. Funding is still needed to fully outfit Encompass’s new center. Anyone interested in supporting the project or learning more can visit www.sisepuedecenter.org or contact developmentandcommunications@encompasscs.org. 


Thank you to Local Press Partners Attending the Event

Santa Cruz Sentinel


California Department of Health Care Services  


The Pajaronian  


KION News


 
 
 

Encompass receives $9 million for Watsonville behavioral health center

  • May 2, 2023
  • 3 min read

By PK HATTIS | pkhattis@santacruzsentinel.com | Santa Cruz Sentinel

PUBLISHED: December 22, 2022 at 4:30 p.m. | UPDATED: December 22, 2022 at 4:31 p.m.


WATSONVILLE — Mental health struggles and rates of substance-use disorder have been dramatically escalating for more than two years in Santa Cruz County. But as local behavioral health professionals work to meet the needs of the moment, they have also scored a major assist from state authorities looking to make an impact on an issue that extends beyond county lines.


Encompass Community Services, the county’s largest community-based behavioral health and human services provider, recently announced it has been awarded more than $9 million in state funds that will support continued development of a new South County behavioral health center.


Encompass representatives say the new Sí Se Puede Behavioral Health Center, soon to be built in Watsonville, will expand the county’s substance-use disorder treatment capacity specifically within the 18-25 year old age group known as “transition-age youth.” According to an Encompass release, the new facility will include seven new residential substance-use disorder treatment beds specifically for the transition-age cohort and 30 residential treatment beds in total. There will also be 106 annual outpatient treatment slots available and the center will have capacity to serve an estimated 1,300 community members annually.

“Encompass has long dreamed of building a bright, new behavioral health center in Watsonville to reduce barriers to treatment and make personalized, high-quality behavioral health care accessible to everyone in our community,” said Encompass CEO Monica Martinez in the release. “This award provides the vital investment needed to break ground on the project next year and brings us significantly closer to realizing our full fundraising goal.”


The funding was announced the very same day Santa Cruz behavioral health professionals shared an annual report detailing a surge in acute drug-related deaths this year. Overdoses and deaths stemming from the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl in younger demographics were of notable concern to several local agencies.


From January 2020 to September 2022, 19 individuals in the 20s age group, 33 in their 30s, 19 in their 40s and 14 in their 50s died as a result of fentanyl use, according to Stephany Fiore from the County Sheriff-Coroner’s Office. The figure dropped to six for teens and eight for those in their 60s.


Local data also illustrates a high concentration of drug overdoses has been occurring in the cities of Santa Cruz and Watsonville.


At the same time, it is glaringly apparent to local officials that there is an inpatient bed shortage – both for youth and adults – as identified in a recent report from the county’s Criminal Justice Council and a presentation to the county Board of Supervisors earlier this month.

But a direct response to these issues is also well underway. Similar to the project in Watsonville, the county supervisors recently approved the purchase of a two-story, 30,220-square-foot facility in Live Oak that will offer 16 residential treatment beds for youth suffering a behavioral health crisis.

State officials have also recognized the need for increased capacity.

Funding for the center in Watsonville is part of a $480.5 million package from California’s Master Plan for Kids’ Mental Health, which invested in 54 behavioral health projects this cycle. All funded projects aim to construct new facilities that will provide mental and behavioral health care for transition-age youth.


“This funding will support critical mental health and substance use disorder treatment facilities that have committed to serving the diverse range of children and youth covered by Medi-Cal,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom in a statement.


Encompass has also partnered with nonprofit developer MidPen Housing to include a 72-unit affordable housing development on the forthcoming health campus.


The entire campus project is estimated to cost $13 million and while this new grant money won’t get the project to its ultimate fundraising goal, officials are now confident they will break ground and begin construction sometime next year.

To learn about the project, visit sisepuedecenter.org.

 
 
 

Sí Se Puede Welcomes Senator John Laird to Program

  • Jul 22, 2022
  • 1 min read

This week, we were honored to welcome California State Senator John Laird to visit our Sí Se Puede residential program and the future site of our new behavioral health center! Senator Laird has been a tremendous champion for health equity in our community and we were honored to share how the Sí Se Puede program is (and will continue to!) address our community’s greatest substance use disorder needs. Big thanks to our incredible program team for all you do to support our community.



 
 
 
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