Mental Health Youth Services

The Youth Mental Health Services Division of the Behavioral Health Department provides a range of services for children and youth affected by mental illness, trauma, and environmental stress. These services include individual and family therapy, rehabilitation, case management, and psychiatric care.

Services assist children and youth in the recovery and discovery processes, helping them to achieve their highest quality of life by providing culturally competent, strength-based, and client- and family-centered strategies that utilize best practices.

Our goal is to instill hope and optimism, assisting children and families to develop mastery over their own lives, and helping them to thrive in their homes, schools, and communities.

For prevention and youth substance use treatment information, please visit the Behavioral Health Department's Prevention & Outreach Division

*Please note, services are no longer being offered at Vicente Ave in San Luis Obispo. Please call 805-781-4179 to arrange youth mental health services in San Luis Obispo. 

Abused Children’s Treatment Services (ACTS)

What is this service:
ACTS provides services for sexually abused children, age’s birth to 18 and their families. The primary goal of this program is to treat the symptoms and emotional trauma associated with sexual abuse, disclosure and court involvement, to reduce the possibility of further sexual abuse and to coordinate with other agencies in providing comprehensive services for victims and their families.
 

Child and Youth Full Service Partnership (FSP)

The Children and Youth Full Service Partnership (FSP) program serves children and youth ages 0-15 of all races and ethnicities with severe emotional disturbance or serious mental illnesses

Intensive Care Coordination (ICC)

What is this service: 
Intensive Care Coordination (ICC) is similar to Targeted Case Management (TCM) and includes components such as facilitating assessment, care planning and coordination of services, including urgent services for children or youth. ICC is delivered using a Child and Family Team and is intended for children or youth whose treatment requires cross-agency collaboration.

Intensive Day Treatment Services

What is this service:
Services are provided at two (2) sites in San Luis Obispo in collaboration with the County Office of Education.  Chris Jespersen Elementary School (Elementary and Junior High) and Vicente School (Junior High and High School). 
 

Intensive Home Based Services (IHBS)

Intensive Home Based Services (IHBS) are individualized, strength-based interventions to address mental health conditions that interfere with a child or youth’s functioning. IHBS help the child or youth build skills necessary for successful functioning in the home, community and school.
 

Katie A Intensive Team

What is this service:
The Katie A intensive team provides wraparound-like, intensive, community based mental health services and supports to children, youth and transitional age youth in the Child Welfare Services system. The therapist and rehabilitation specialist work as a team to provide services that are driven by the Child and Family Team and include the full array of mental health services as well as, Intensive Care Coordination and Intensive Home Based Services

Latino Outreach Program

One of the first programs funded through the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA), this service provides a full array of mental health services in the community that are culturally appropriate for both Latino adults and children/youth.  

Therapists in the program are Bilingual/Bicultural and work to increase access to mental health care for monolingual Latinos and to eliminate the stigma associated with mental illness and treatment amongst the Latino population.

Please phone 1 (800) 838-1381 for information or to schedule an appointment.

Mental Health Services at the Juvenile Hall

Mental Health Therapists provide a mental health screening, risk assessment, crisis intervention and elective mental health services to all youth admitted into the Juvenile Hall. For youth at the Juvenile Hall that are in need of ongoing mental health services Mental Health Therapists may also provide assessment, therapy, rehabilitation services, and referrals for community services. A Psychiatrist from Mental Health provides medication and evaluation and monitoring once a week.

 

Mental Health Services in Therapeutic Learning Classrooms

Mental Health Youth Services therapists provide a full array of school-linked mental health services to several Therapeutic Learning Classrooms in San Luis Obispo County.

The therapist collaborates with teachers, school principals, parents, student study teams, individualized education plan teams, school psychologists, and other agencies as needed in developing individual treatment plans for these children.

Martha’s Place Children's Center

Martha's Place Children’s Center provides multidisciplinary assessment, individual and family therapy to children birth to five (5).  Youth may receive a mental health assessment and /or a specialized pediatric assessment depending on their specific needs. Case management services are provided to connect families with resources and some medication management is provided by the pediatrician.

Services can be accessed by calling Martha’s Place: (805) 781-4948.

Martha's Place Referral Form

Remisión de Martha’s Place

Services Affirming Family Empowerment (SAFE)

SAFE teams convene in four areas of the county: North, Coast, San Luis Obispo, and Arroyo Grande  to provide various levels of service and provide multi-agency collaboration and coordination to seriously emotionally disturbed children and their families. 
 

Therapeutic Behavioral Services

What is this service:
Therapeutic Behavioral Services (TBS) are designed to help children or youth and their parents/caregivers (when available) manage behaviors utilizing short-term, behavioral interventions targeting measurable goals that are based on the child or youth and family’s needs.
 

Transitional Aged Youth (TAY) Full Service Partnership

The Transitional Age Youth Full Service Partnership program serves youth between the ages of 16-25 of all races and ethnicities. Young adults served include those with serious emotional disturbances/serious mental illness and a chronic history of psychiatric hospitalizations; law enforcement involvement; co-occurring disorders.
 

Wraparound Services

Wraparound services are based on a “whatever it takes model.”  Services are individualized, strength based and the family and youth/child perspectives are intentionally elicited and prioritized during all phases of the Wraparound process.     
 

Youth Group Home/Residential Mental Health Services

The Behavioral Health Department provides mental health services to youth who have been placed in residential treatment facilities or group homes in or out of county by the following agencies:

  1. Department of Social Services;
  2. Probation Department;
  3. School Districts, as part of an Individual Education Plan (IEP).

Youth Mental Health Outpatient Treatment

Outpatient services include a wide variety of services to children and youth, typically aged 0-18, in the community.  
Please contact our access line at 1 (800) 838-1381 for information or to schedule an appointment. All services are available in Spanish.


Staff focus on the best practice of partnering with the family in the development of a treatment plan that is: needs driven, strength based, solution focused, and identifies and builds on participant and family strengths. 

Our goal is instilling hope and optimism to assist children and families in developing mastery over their own lives so that they can stay together in their homes, school and community.

Services include:

  • Assessment
  • Treatment Planning
  • Psychotherapy
  • Rehabilitation Services
  • Crisis Intervention
  • Medication Monitoring
  • Psychiatry
  • Case Management

Other programs include: