Sonoma County officials broke ground Wednesday on a new youth behavioral health campus on the east side of Santa Rosa near the base of Hood Mountain.
Once completed, the new facility will offer mental health services and substance abuse treatment for adolescents and young adults. Residential and outpatient services will be provided at a single location, strengthening behavioral health services for youth in Sonoma County. With no facility of its kind in Northern California, the site will provide critical care close to home.
“When you’re talking about healing, you need to take a holistic approach, and what better place than this beautiful area? It changes the whole healing process,” said Nolan Sullivan, director of the Sonoma County Department of Health Services.
The area is quiet and serene, far enough from the hustle of the U.S. Highway 101 corridor that wildlife can be seen and heard. A swarm of raptors circled overhead, with the peak of Hood Mountain towering over the site as officials gathered to break ground on the 10,000-square-foot campus.
‘We need this desperately’
As the first residential care facility for youth in Northern California, Dr. Jan Cobaleda-Kegler, the county’s Behavioral Health Division director, stressed the importance of having a space dedicated to youth in Sonoma County.
“We need this desperately. We don’t have it. There are very few residential treatment centers in the state, and so this fills that need,” Cobaleda-Kegler said.
Youth who are currently struggling with substance abuse or a mental health crisis are sent out of the county because of the lack of a residential care facility in Sonoma County. This added strain on both patients and their families can prolong the healing process while also costing taxpayers more money as the county covers transportation and outpatient costs.
Sullivan stressed the importance of the center for the community as a whole, considering the benefits it will bring to both patients and funders.
“Not only is it a beautiful option that has not existed before, but it also helps save taxpayer money,” he said.
Construction will continue over the next two years, and the site is expected to open in 2028.