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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Behavioral Health Services announced Wednesday it will close two peer support centers this year due to “budgetary changes.”
The affected facilities – the Big Oak Peer Support Center in Clearlake Oaks and the Circle of Native Minds in Lakeport – will both close effective June 1, according to a press release from Behavioral Health Services.
The agency said the decision follows statewide changes tied to California’s 2024 Proposition 1 and the transition to the Behavioral Health Services Act. Those changes “have significantly restructured how behavioral health funding can be allocated at the county level,” the release said.
California’s 2024 Proposition 1 restructures the state’s mental health funding system, shifting resources toward housing and treatment for people with severe mental illness and substance use disorders.
The Behavioral Health Services Act, which replaces the former Mental Health Services Act, updates how counties can spend those funds, placing new limits on community-based and prevention programs.
Closure decision leaves unanswered questions
The bill was passed in March 2024. While the full picture of how this change impacts Lake County remains unclear, the two peer centers are among the first programs the department cites as affected by the legislation.
While citing budgetary change, the county’s press release did not specify how much funding was lost under the bill or how those losses relate to the closures. It also did not explain why these two facilities – out of five peer support centers in the county and other programs – were selected.
Lake County News sent an email to the county requesting information on the number of people receiving service impacted by the closures, specific changes in the state legislature and the exact fiscal impact on the department’s budget, and whether the county is anticipating any additional operational disruptions or program closures down the road.
Questions were also asked about any discussions at the Board of Supervisors on the matter and to what extent the closure decision was related to Behavioral Health’s current loan from the county’s general fund.
On Jun. 17, the board approved authorizing a $2 million loan to Behavioral Health requiring repayment within 90 days.
Three months later, on Sept. 16, Behavioral Health Director Elise Jones requested an extension for their repayment to Feb. 13 this year. The board approved it 4-1 with Supervisor Bruno Sabatier the sole dissenting vote. No recent public records show that the department has paid back the loan.
The county did not provide answers to any of these questions on Wednesday.
“I am currently working with County staff to gather answers to your questions,” County Administrative Analyst and spokesperson Trevor Mockel wrote in an email. He said an update will be provided “as soon as more information becomes available.”
Lake County News also called Behavioral Health Services twice but was unable to reach their department leadership.
Peer support centers
Peer support centers in Lake County run a variety of “education, prevention and early intervention services, programs and activities,” according to the county website.
These centers are intended to improve access to mental health services among “identified priority populations” and provide peer employment opportunities, serving “as a safe and easily accessible community-based location for residents to connect to behavioral health services,” the county website says.
One of the closing centers, The Big Oak, assists community members with applying for medical, mental health and housing assistance and has its services expanded to include a pop-up care trailer, support with applying for public assistance, food distribution and a clothing closet, providing resources for those experiencing homelessness, according to the county website.
The closure announcement said the county’s Behavioral Health Services acknowledges the “meaningful impact” of these programs and will explore ways to “sustain prevention-focused work” under the new framework.
The remaining three peer support centers are La Voz de la Esperanza Latino Wellness Center and Family Support center in Clearlake, and the Harbor on Main Youth Resource Center in Lakeport.
Tribal elders at the Circle of Native Minds: ‘We’re the first ones to get cut’
The Circle of Native Minds, also facing closure, primarily serves tribal elders from all seven local tribes in the county, providing culturally specific support and a community hub for mental health services.
Les Miller, an elder of Scotts Valley Rancheria who volunteers at the center, said in a phone interview that they have been helping young people at the tribe to understand dangers of drugs and helping the elders “not to be afraid to go to their medical appointments.”
“In the tribal world or tribal community, there's a stigma about being mentally handicapped,” Ron Montez, an elder of the Big Valley Rancheria, told Lake County News in a phone call.
Montez said there is a core group of about a dozen to 14 elders from local tribes – including him and Miller – that meet twice a month to discuss issues concerning each of the rancherias, including suicide problems, mental health issues, addiction and “everything that concerns.”
Montez said the center was a “groundbreaking” initiative first established with the help from his cousin, Thomas Brown, who was both Native American and working for the county.
“We were getting some recognition,” he said of the meaning of having the center. But after Brown passed away in early 2023, Montez said things have gotten more difficult.
“It was slowly harder and harder to get funding, harder and harder to get services,” he said. “And we got moved from one building to another, and we got a smaller building for our services, for our meetings.”
Montez said tribes “have little faith in the government programs because of our history with most of the promises not being fulfilled or kept.”
Both Montez and Miller said they were not surprised when the announcement finally came.
Miller said he learned about the potential closure in a meeting in February.
Montez said with “dwindling” available funds, “we decided that there was something going on that we didn’t know of, and so we suspected, but we got no answers, till we recently got answers.”
That answer, Montez said, was the closure of the center.
The Circle of Native Minds provides “culturally relevant, wellness-oriented services for the Native American communities of Lake County,” the county website said.
When asked how tribal people may obtain those services after the closure, Montez said there's no immediate grants available.
“They’re gonna have to go to non-specialised groups that provide the service,” Montez said. “Lake County Tribal Health is one of them, but they are overwhelmed as it is now with patients.”
“We just have to find another location and different funding source,” said Miller.
“We're the first ones to get cut,” he said, with a bitter chuckle. “I think we're doing a great job.”
Lingzi Chen is a staff reporter at Lake County News and a 2024-2026 California Local News Fellow. Email her at lchen@lakeconews.com.
