Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Behavioral Health topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Tulare County approves $2 million Kingsview field-based mental health contract to reach unhoused residents
Summary
The Tulare County Board of Supervisors approved a $2 million contract with Kingsview to expand field-based specialty mental health services for people who are unhoused or at risk, funded from the county's Behavioral Health Services Act allocations.
The Tulare County Board of Supervisors on Feb. (meeting date on file) unanimously approved a $2 million contract with Kingsview to provide field-based specialty mental health services aimed at unhoused and at‑risk residents.
Behavioral Health Director Dr. Natalie Bollin told the board Kingsview’s field-based team will “provide a full range of specialty mental health services out in the field” with services targeted to navigation centers, encampments and housing sites and including individual counseling, medication services and case management. “What is great about this contract is that Kingsview also offers our full spectrum of services, including crisis, mobile crisis, and our care court,” Bollin said.
Bollin told supervisors the contract will be paid from the county’s Behavioral Health Services Act (BHSA) funds, noting the $2,000,000 contract comes from the county’s full-service partnership (FSP) bucket. She summarized the county’s broader behavioral health spending: “The total bucket that we provide services to under this is almost $11,000,000. Our behavioral health housing, we spend $12,200,000 to support our clients for their housing and supportive services.” She also said the county’s housing allocation is at about 33% of spending while the program limit is 30%, and that the FSP bucket is “within a couple percentage points.”
Supervisors asked about how first contact and engagement work in practice. Townsend asked, “Could you just walk us through sort of what the first contact looks like?” Bollin described an outreach model in which teams meet people where they are, assess needs and barriers, and connect individuals to behavioral health, substance‑use and other community supports. She said it can take multiple contacts — “30 to 40 touches” in some cases — before a person engages in ongoing services and emphasized coordination with existing county teams and the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) so clients are entered into the coordinated care system when housing openings arise.
Board members who spoke during the item expressed support. Supervisor Shuckling moved to approve the contract; Supervisor Townsend seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
The contract authorizes Kingsview to operate alongside the county’s existing mobile crisis and care-court efforts, with the stated goal of reducing duplication and improving coordinated access for people experiencing homelessness or severe mental illness.
