Santa Clara council approves 3-year agreement with Care Solace to coordinate mental-health care

The Santa Clara City Council voted unanimously Jan. 28 to authorize a three‑year agreement with Care Solace Inc. to provide coordinated referrals and care‑navigation for mental‑health and social services for city residents and employees, and approved a budget amendment to fund the contract with opioid settlement dollars.

Care Solace’s chief growth officer, Anita Ward, told the council the company acts as a local “hub” that matches people to culturally relevant care, checks provider availability and insurance coverage, and helps schedule and nudge patients to appointments. “We’re essentially a hub to all of your infrastructure,” Ward said. She added Care Solace’s care companions can be reached by phone, text or video chat and offer live translation in more than 200 languages.

The contract is for three years at a cost not to exceed $390,000 total (about $130,000 per year), staff said. City Manager Javonne Grogan told council the agreement will be funded from the city’s opioid settlement trust fund; staff said the city has received roughly $500,000 to date and expects more over time. The council formally authorized the city manager to negotiate and execute the agreement and approve related budget amendments.

Why it matters: Council members and staff said the service would fill gaps in the city’s existing system—helping people find therapy, detox, inpatient beds or social supports quickly—and provide data the city lacks on who is asking for help and where. Ward said Care Solace already serves municipalities and school districts nationwide; she said the platform documents metrics including time‑to‑match, referral sources, demographics and service outcomes so the city can spot trends by ZIP code and age group.

Council questions focused on practical issues: whether Care Solace can help when therapists are scarce, how quickly the service can place people, how it would work with county programs and homeless outreach, and how the city would publicize the service. Ward said Care Solace maintains an actively verified provider database, conducts outreach to local clinicians and partners, and has reserved appointment capacity in some markets; nationally the company averages about 11 days to an appointment and up to about 18 days for more complex placements, she said. She also said roughly half of Care Solace clients are on public insurance or uninsured and that the company is used by nearly a thousand communities and has served millions of people.

Council members said they wanted strong outreach to make sure residents and city employees know the service exists. Ward said Care Solace will handle a large portion of campaign outreach and make materials available in multiple languages; staff said the city would also promote the service through existing channels. The council asked for regular reporting; staff and Ward said the company will provide monthly or quarterly trend and case summaries that the city can use to evaluate performance.

The motion to approve the staff recommendation was made by Council Member Hardy; the second was recorded as not specified in the meeting minutes. Assistant City Clerk recorded the roll call vote as unanimous in favor. Staff will return to implement the contract, begin public outreach, and incorporate the agreement into the city’s budget and reporting processes.