What started out a few years ago as an unfunded experimental program designed to minimize violent flashpoints between those experiencing mental-health crises and Santa Barbara Sheriff’s deputies responding to these challenging calls has now flowered into a full-fledged program with three full-time teams — dubbed “co-response units.”
This Tuesday, that program — and its bureaucratic guru, Dr. Cherylynn Lee, head of the Sheriff’s Behavioral Sciences Unit — all but got a standing ovation from each of the five county supervisors, who were all clearly moved by the testimony. More striking still was the tear-inducing praise, via Zoom, given by a small but relentless cadre of mental-health advocates better known for their scathing critiques of the county’s various mental-health initiatives.
But despite the piles of statistics attesting to the program’s time-and-money-saving efficacy and the heart-stopping testimonials from affected family members, Dr. Lee would walk away from the supervisors’ chambers without a reliable funding stream.
