County health assessment spotlights behavioral health access; Simi Valley subset available to council

Health leaders and hospital partners presented highlights from the Ventura County 2025 Community Health Needs Assessment at Tuesday's Simi Valley City Council meeting, and emphasized behavioral health access as a cross-cutting priority.

"Over the first two months of 2025, we conducted surveys online and in person across the county," said Daniel Worley, program manager for the countywide collaborative, noting the effort produced more than 6,600 completed surveys and "more than 300 in Simi Valley alone." Worley said partners then supplemented survey data with focus groups and provider listening sessions to reach populations less likely to be captured in a general survey.

The collaborative identified three countywide priorities for the next three years: older adult health, women's health and behavioral health, Worley said. He added that access, health navigation and equity cut across all the priority areas.

In response to council questions about service access, presenters said the countywide data show only about half of adults who perceive a need for behavioral health services obtain them. "Even in California as a whole it's 58 percent—here in Ventura County, it's about 52 percent," a presenter said.

Adventist Health representatives described local implementation steps, including a substance-use navigator program based at the local hospital that has referred hundreds of people to treatment. Hospital staff said community benefit funds and partnerships help sustain some implementation efforts but additional funding is needed to scale countywide work.

Council members asked for and were promised a Simi Valley-specific data breakdown from the survey that staff said could be distributed to the council for more granular local planning.