Funding Shift Could Undercut Humboldt Suicide Prevention

Behavioral Health Services Act Coordinator Oliver Gonzalez and Behavioral Health Director Emi Botzler-Rogers

At a time when Humboldt County is working on suicide prevention, hundreds of thousands of dollars of annual state funding for it is being diverted away. The funding shift was the most prominent point of discussion as the Board of Supervisors fielded an update on behavioral health planning at its June 23 meeting.

A range of mental health services are funded through the state’s 1 percent tax on annual income over $1 million.

Presenting a new three-year plan for the county’s use of its share of the funding, Behavioral Health Services Act Coordinator Oliver Gonzalez said the 2024 voter approval of Proposition 1 funding doesn’t mean there’s more money for mental health services.

A prong of Prop. 1 is the Behavioral Health Services Act, which replaces and overhauls the former Mental Health Services Act (MHSA).

“One emphasis I really wanted to call out here is Proposition 1 is not an expansion of dollars – if anything, it’s a reduction of 5 percent,” Gonzalez said.

That’s because Prop. 1 shifts focus – and funding – to services for “people who will have elevated risk,” he continued. “That is a really different pivot from what the MHSA would allow in the past.”

No longer in the funding mix are “the broad population-wide efforts not tied to individual risk,” Gonzalez said. “I want to call that out because here in Humboldt County and many other counties, that affects a multitude of different programs such as our suicide prevention program.”

The five percent the county loses instead goes to the California Department of Public Health.

Supervisor Natalie Arroyo

Supervisor Natalie Arroyo is concerned about the shift.

“I know suicide prevention is one of our community public health areas of focus,” she said, asking for further explanation.

“That 5 percent doesn’t come to us and (the state) is able to use some of that to fund those activities through local public health jurisdictions,” said Behavioral Health Director Emi Botzler-Rogers. “Whether or not that’s sufficient I think is still being determined, but yes, it’s meant to be diverted in a way that still funds those activities, but maybe at a lesser amount or in different ways.”

“So how are we envisioning continuing to support that suicide prevention work while we wait to see how they manage to fund it?” Arroyo asked.

Botzler-Rogers deferred to the county’s public health division on that but noted the annual amount for local suicide prevention that’s being diverted — $300,000.

It’s a high profile issue because Humboldt’s suicide rate is more than twice as high as the state’s.

According to a county report, between 2014 and 2023 there were 338 suicides, an average of 34 per year. That calculates to 24 to 25 suicides for every 100,000 residents, which is far higher than the state’s rate of 10.7 suicides per 100,000.

Assistant Public Health Director Michele Stephens said the state is requiring counties to have suicide prevention plans, providing funding for them through some of 5 percent being diverted.

“So it’s definitely on the radar,” she continued.

“I’m still concerned about it here, because of our data around suicide,”” said Arroyo. “I’m sure you all care very deeply about this, I just don’t want to let it go.”

The effect of the funding shift remains to be seen.

“Within behavioral health over the last couple years, we’ve done really robust efforts around suicide screening and adopted tools and policy around doing that in ways that are very diligent,” Botzler-Rodgers said.

She added, “We are really addressing suicide as directly as possible.”