Santa Fe County proclaims May 2025 Mental Health Awareness Month, highlights local services and partnerships

Santa Fe County commissioners on May 13 proclaimed May 2025 as Mental Health Awareness Month and heard county behavioral health officials and nonprofit partners describe how local programs connect residents to crisis and outpatient services.

The county’s Community Services Department behavioral health services program manager, Alex Dominguez, told the Board that the proclamation — co-sponsored by Commissioners Lisa Kokari Stone and Adam Johnson — recognizes local partnerships that increase access to behavioral health supports, including a long-standing relationship with NAMI Santa Fe, the county’s Behavioral Health Leadership Council, the La Sala crisis triage center and the county’s CONNECT navigation network.

The Nut Graf: County staff and nonprofit partners said the proclamation is intended to raise awareness, reduce stigma and draw public attention to an array of services that range from crisis triage to long‑term case management. Presenters said the county’s approach combines public and private providers, peer‑run supports and a county‑run leadership council that advises on system gaps.

Dominguez described La Sala as a public‑private triage center that provides crisis support and managed withdrawal services; New Mexico Solutions operates the triage center and the Santa Fe Recovery Center operates withdrawal services. He said the CONNECT network links more than 80 health and social service organizations and uses navigators to help people get housing, transportation, behavioral health and other services.

Representatives from partner organizations — including Betty Shover, executive director of NAMI Santa Fe; Sylvia Barela, national managing director with Via Positiva and chair of the county’s Behavioral Health Leadership Council; and Fred Sandoval of the National Latino Behavioral Health Association — described community programs and long‑term local efforts to expand access. Sandoval and others traced local crisis‑response work back to initiatives begun in the 1990s and emphasized the continuing need to reduce barriers to care for Latino and Indigenous populations.

Commissioners praised county staff and partner groups for outreach and said the proclamation is one step in ongoing system development. Commissioner Lisa Kokari Stone, who worked in behavioral health before taking office, said public officials should “alleviate public suffering” and treat mental health as part of overall health. Commissioner Adam Johnson and Commissioner Justin S. Green also thanked staff and partners for programming and outreach.

Action: Commissioner Lisa Kokari Stone moved to adopt the proclamation. Commissioner Hank Hughes seconded. The Board voted “Aye” and the motion carried.

What’s next: Presenters flagged several service gaps the county is watching — long outpatient wait lists, limited local inpatient capacity for adolescents and adults, and specific needs such as eating‑disorder care and culturally specific outreach. County staff and partners said they will continue to refine referrals between emergency departments, the La Sala triage unit and outpatient providers and to coordinate with the county’s Behavioral Health Leadership Council on system‑level recommendations.

Ending: The Board’s proclamation cites recent state legislation that supporters said will affect local planning; presenters and commissioners said implementation of statewide behavioral health reforms will be a local policy and operational focus in the year ahead.