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San Francisco, CA – Mayor London N. Breed and the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH) today announced the opening of a new 70-bed residential step-down program in Treasure Island. The addition of these new beds represents significant progress toward the City’s goal to provide new health care and treatment programs for people with mental health and substance use challenges.
“This new residential step-down program will help people with substance use disorder receive the follow-up care they need after receiving treatment,” said Mayor London Breed. “The program is part of our larger efforts to provide comprehensive substance use treatment for San Franciscans while also addressing conditions on our streets. We need to have resources across the entire spectrum of care, from engaging with people directly on the street to having these long-term beds to help people who have done the hard work through inpatient care.”
San Francisco has a robust network of behavioral health services. Adding these new beds to the City’s existing 2,200 behavioral health beds is part of SFDPH’s commitment to care for and treat people who struggle with mental health and substance use. Over the past two years, SFDPH has opened 250 additional residential care and treatment beds.
The additional 70 residential step-down beds will provide clients with transitional recovery housing for up to two years following completion of their residential treatment for substance use disorder. During their stay, these individuals will receive support while they participate in outpatient treatment and seek employment.
“We are making it easier for people to access care by increasing the number of beds and providing a range of options for care for substance use disorders,” said Director of Health, Dr. Grant Colfax. “Opening these beds is part of our department’s critical work to provide care for people during their journey to wellness and recovery.”
SFDPH is partnering with HealthRIGHT 360 to operate the new program at Treasure Island; the organization has already started accepting clients and the beds will be utilized over the course of the next several months.
“Step-down programs are a vital component of substance use disorder treatment for people who enter treatment without safe or stable housing,” said Dr. Vitka Eisen, CEO of HealthRIGHT 360. “Having the ability to complete residential treatment and go to a step-down program for outpatient care helps further stabilize clients with substance use disorder so they can build on a solid foundation of health and wellness. We are excited to partner with the City to offer this critical program.”
“I know firsthand the importance of having a supportive and stable environment during the recovery process, and that’s one of the reasons why I strongly support these new step-down beds on Treasure Island,” said District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey. “These beds will provide a crucial bridge between inpatient care and returning to the community, offering a safe and structured environment where people can continue to receive the help and support they need to overcome their struggles and resume their everyday lives.”
Increasing the number of behavioral health beds is a data driven plan based upon the City’s Behavioral Health Bed Optimization Report released in 2020, the City’s utilization data from ongoing data collection at findtreatment-sf, and identified services gaps. SFDPH opened the 20-bed SoMa RISE Drug Sobering Center and the 75-bed Minna Project last year. Updates on San Francisco’s expansion of behavioral health beds is available at https://sf.gov/residential-care-and-treatment.
“These beds represent a new chapter for people suffering from mental health and substance use disorders who have been unable to secure long term placements in supportive, recovery focused environments,” said District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman. “I hope the opening of this program will be a down payment on much larger expansions of long-term behavioral health placements at the local, regional, and state level.”
“If we’re going to successfully address the crisis on our streets, we need to fund wrap-around services that serve people on each step of their journey towards health and wellness,” said District 9 Supervisor Hillary Ronen. “These 70 beds represent our city’s commitment to caring for San Franciscans suffering from severe mental health and substance use disorders and brings us closer to a fully functioning Mental Health SF.”
SFDPH provides a daily update of its available mental health and substance use treatment beds, which may be found here: www.findtreatmentsf.org.
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