For Georgina Espinoza, working with Yolo County inmates is not exactly what she pictured herself doing when she entered the mental health field.
“I have worked in a lot of different settings in the past,” she said, noting she has helped emotionally disturbed youth and has a background in social work.
Nevertheless, the Yolo County resident faced the challenge head on, embracing her new role as a mental health clinician.
Working side-by-side with Yolo County Sheriff’s deputies — as well as Winters Police officers — Espinoza is trained to assist them on calls, where people are experiencing a mental health crisis and need someone to help.
And her position is a fairly new one.
Funded through the Mental Health Wellness Act, the three-year $1.7 million partnership enables four “community-based crisis response” teams to work with police in Woodland, Davis, Winters and West Sacramento, according to Yolo County officials. These teams respond to reports of mental health crises throughout the county.
Staffed and overseen by Turning Point Community Programs, one of the main goals of the partnership was to reduce psychiatric hospitalizations, incarcerations and homelessness among the mental health population.
To read the entire article by Sara Dowling from the Woodland Daily Democrat from 2/27/16 go HERE
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