We are thrilled to share that Encompass Community Services has been awarded a $9.36M grant to support the development of our new, state-of-the-art Sí Se Puede Behavioral Health Center in Watsonville.  

The award is part of the Department of Health Care Services’ (DHCS) Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program (BHCIP) Round 4: Children and Youth grants. As announced by Governor Gavin Newsom’s office on December 8, this round of grants includes $480.5M in awards to 54 projects aimed at improving California’s behavioral health infrastructure for children and youth.  

BHCIP funding will allow Encompass to significantly expand Santa Cruz County’s substance-use disorder treatment capacity for transition-age youth (ages 18-25) and families. Specifically, the project will allow Encompass to add 7 new residential substance-use disorder treatment beds, as well 106 annual outpatient treatment slots for transition-age youth and families.

This treatment capacity expansion project is the cornerstone of Encompass’s larger effort to develop a state-of-the-art behavioral health campus in Watsonville that will deliver equitable treatment to nearly 1,300 community members per year.  

“Encompass has long dreamed of building a bright, new behavioral health center in Watsonville to reduce barriers to treatment and make personalized, high-quality behavioral health care accessible to everyone in our community,” said Encompass CEO Monica Martinez. “This award provides the vital investment needed to break ground on the project next year and brings us significantly closer to realizing our full fundraising goal.”  

November is Native American Heritage Month - This year, Encompass honored Friday, November 25 as "Native American Heritage Day,” by observing the full day as an agency holiday. Encompass made this commitment because we believe that observing the Thanksgiving holiday with no acknowledgement of the intolerance, conflict, and oppression that is deeply rooted in its history – and in the history of our nation – is actively perpetuating oppression. Renaming and observing the day after Thanksgiving is a small step we can take as an agency to call out injustice.

Simply put, Encompass is committed to listening deeply, bearing witness, and *taking action* toward racial equity at every level of our organization. We want to deeply appreciate Encompass’s Racial Equity Workgroup for strongly advocating for this holiday and for their ongoing work to drive agency-wide change. 

Earlier this month, Encompass gathered with community partners, leaders and guests to celebrate the grand opening of the Thrive Hive, Encompass’s drop-in resource center for transition-aged youth (TAY) ages 15-24!

Simply put, Encompass is a health equity organization. We believe that everyone in our community should have access to the high-quality care and resources they need and deserve to live a healthier, more fulfilling life. That is exactly why we prioritized building the Thrive Hive.

With this center, we can significantly expand the number of youth we serve and expand the services we offer to meet the unique needs of TAY individuals in our community. Most importantly, our TAY program team worked tirelessly alongside the individuals we serve to create a trusted, welcoming place for youth to come together to build community… and truly THRIVE.

The center is designed specifically to meet the unique needs of TAY individuals in our community, including those experiencing houselessness and those who are, or have been, involved in the foster care or justice systems. Most importantly, the resource center will serve as a trusted, welcoming place for youth to come together to build community.  We are honored to have worked alongside the TAY individuals we serve to identify and incorporate the following resources into our new center: 

• Computers and flexible classroom spaces to host programming on key topics like motivational interviewing, resume-building, job readiness, applying for higher education and to conduct mock job interviews 
• Laundry facilities and showers 
• A cozy living room and flexible recreational space to offer health and wellness programming, such as meditation and creative expression classes 
• A fully stocked kitchen where staff can support youth in preparing warm, healthy meals 
• Case management services to establish rapport and trusting relationships and delivery of direct services assistance 
• Therapeutic services, for those who qualify

Our October staff highlight is the Data Analytics and Reporting Services (DARS) team. The DARS team is responsible for helping track, analyze, and report on data for our agency. Though it is easy to see the importance of our frontline staff, there are many teams behind the scenes that Encompass could not survive without and DARS is one of them. Data collection and analysis is a huge part providing high-quality healthcare. We need information to qualify and quantify how well we are doing for ourselves, our funders, and our clients. DARS spends countless hours designing data tracking software, pulling data for funding opportunities, and answering questions that help us better serve our community. This team does so much to keep our agency growing and thriving and we are so grateful for their amazing skill and dedication.

We are thrilled to share that Encompass has been awarded another three-year accreditation from CARF International for our integrated behavioral health programs for mental health and substance use disorders!

CARF’s Three-Year Accreditation decision represents the longest duration of accreditation given to an organization and demonstrates Encompass’s substantial conformance to the CARF standards, which prioritize delivering quality services that focus on clients’ specific strengths, abilities, needs and preferences. In order to receive a Three-Year Accreditation, an organization must put itself through a rigorous peer review process and provide evidence to a team of CARF surveyors in a multi-day survey visit that the programs and services we offer are measurable, accountable, and of the highest quality. 

“Maintaining our CARF Accreditation is not easy, and it is not a requirement. Encompass chose to pursue CARF Accreditation because we believe the people we serve deserve high quality, person-centered, evidence-based services that meet CARF’s stringent standards,” said Encompass CEO Monica Martinez. “The CARF Review Team reviewed our services against more than 1,400 performance standards to make their determination, and we are honored that our programs earned re-accreditation.”

Encompass is honored to join our partners across the county and country in celebrating National Health Center Week (NHCW) this August 7-13! NHCW is a week for health centers all over the country to connect, share their accomplishments, and hold space for future community health goals. Community health centers are champions of the American Healthcare system, lifting up and supporting their community’s well-being every day and Encompass is overjoyed to be included. Read on to hear more about NHCW...

Did you know that Encompass has a short-term mental health treatment program called El Dorado Center (EDC)? As one of five Encompass residentials, EDC's home-like facility offers services to help clients transition from a locked facility back to community living. The EDC team provides individual counseling, Therapeutic wellness groups, social activities, on-site psychiatric medication management, crisis intervention, and much more. They work hard to provide vital care that helps clients have a successful reintegration after a period of treatment. Read on to learn more about this amazing team and how you can help those who need support connect with these services?

We're thrilled to share that Community Foundation Santa Cruz has awarded Encompass a $40,000 grant to support our capital campaign to develop a new Sí Se Puede Behavioral Health Center in Watsonville! Once complete, Encompass’s new behavioral health center will have the capacity to deliver high quality, accessible, and culturally appropriate substance use disorder and mental health treatment services to 1,300 community members every year.

"Like so many communities nationwide, Santa Cruz County is in the midst of a substance use and opioid epidemic, yet high costs, limited program openings, and stigma around seeking treatment are significant barriers to getting our community members the support they need and deserve," said Encompass CEO Monica Martinez, "Our new Sí Se Puede Behavioral Health Center will reduce those barriers by providing bright, new, state-of-the-art facilities and personalized care that’s accessible to all. Through their generous support, Community Foundation Santa Cruz is sending a clear message that those seeking treatment are worth investing in and that our community supports their path to better health. We are deeply grateful for their support."

Did you know that Encompass offers Re-Entry Services that support individuals who are reentering the community after incarceration? Re-entry programs provide important supports to help individuals successfully transition to life outside of prison and avoid future involvement in the justice system. Get to know our Re-Entry Services team and programs in this post!

We're pausing to share some important updates on Encompasses work toward racial equity. First, starting this year, Encompass will be pausing to observe Juneteenth as a paid holiday. Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, and Liberation Day, marks a deeply significant point in our nation’s history. This holiday commemorates the day in 1865 that the last enslaved Black people in our country learned they had been freed from bondage. Honoring the joy, pain, and importance of this monumental day is long overdue. This year, since June 19 falls on a Sunday, Encompass will be observing the Juneteenth holiday on Monday, June 20.