Butte County Behavioral Health got some good news this week. It will receive a $7.7 million grant to open a new mental health facility in Chico.
The funding is from Proposition 1 and will be used to rehabilitate and expand a building that formerly housed Enloe Health’s behavioral health program.
Butte County’s Behavioral Health Director Scott Kennelly said the new, enlarged Mental Health Rehabilitation Center will house up to 40 clients with mental health or addiction issues. It will also provide 24-hour intensive support services.
“We’ve been talking about it and planning for the last couple of years to develop something that is available regionally to counties, not just to Butte County, but to surrounding counties who are smaller and have less resources.”- Scott Kennelly, Butte County Behavioral Health director
“We have no such facility in Butte County and so we actually send out conserved clients to other counties,” Kennelly said. “There’s about 32 individuals right now that are in other counties. It makes it very difficult for those individuals to feel connected to friends, family, their county of origin and their treatment team.”
The new facility will fill a big gap in services, Kennelly said, and will serve several areas in the North State.
“We’ve been talking about it and planning for the last couple of years to develop something that is available regionally to counties, not just to Butte County, but to surrounding counties who are smaller and have less resources.”
Construction is expected to begin later this year, Kennelly said, and the center could open by next spring.
