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Solvista Health outlines region’s behavioral‑health services, youth crisis response and push for faster access to care
Summary
Solvista Health described services that cover Lake and adjacent counties, a regional assessment center for acute care and withdrawal management, and new work to reduce wait times and expand youth‑focused in‑person services and a youth voucher program.
Mandy Keiser, regional leader for Solvista Health, told Lake County commissioners that the community mental‑health provider serves roughly 4,000 people annually across four counties and has shifted heavily to telehealth while prioritizing in‑person youth and family services.
Keiser said Solvista now provides urgent appointments (within 24 hours) and emergency‑level appointments within two hours; routine appointments averaged about eight days at the time of the presentation and the agency aims for under seven days. “We serve about 4,000 people per year,” Keiser said.
She described a regional assessment center in Salida that offers six acute‑treatment beds and six withdrawal‑management beds; the center is not a locked facility but provides 24‑7 care and short inpatient stays when clinically appropriate. Keiser said the center has reduced the need to send many patients far from home for acute care.
Keiser described youth‑focused initiatives: a newly formed youth advisory council that is reviewing intake paperwork and pushing to restore a youth mental‑health voucher program that would provide two free counseling sessions to any youth who presents with the voucher. She said the youth voucher was youth‑driven and designed to lower barriers to early intervention.
Solvista staff also discussed behavioral‑health first aid and suicide‑prevention outreach targeted at seasonal workers and the ski‑town community, and a veterans’ liaison funded by a federal grant to improve outreach to military‑connected residents.
On substance use, Keiser said withdrawal‑management stays are usually under seven days, and the agency is working to improve transition of care by enrolling patients in follow‑up treatment before discharge and to develop an intensive outpatient program for substance‑use disorder.
Keiser asked county officials to contact Solvista with specific questions and invited referrals and collaboration to improve local access to care. No formal county action or funding decision was made during the presentation.
