Lynn Gibbs has dealt with the issue of mental illness in her family for decades.
Her 41-year-old daughter faced several issues, but was stabilized over time. Still, the family found itself in the position where it needed the help of a program that teams up specially trained Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s deputies and behavioral wellness experts to respond to mental health-related emergency calls.
"She was off her psychiatric medication, and when that happens, she deteriorates pretty quickly," Gibbs explained. "She gets in a disoriented state where she no longer knows she needs to eat."
Gibbs added that one of Santa Barbara County’s Co-Response Program teams was called out to help.
"She was afraid of going to the hospital, and so she hid out at a friend's house who was away," said Gibbs. "The Co-Response Team went there. She wouldn't answer the door. They had to go through a bedroom window to get to her. She was very frightened and combative. But without that team, she might have been arrested and incarcerated, and her life could have taken a very different direction. They were able to calm her down and get her safely to a hospital."
Now, the Co-Response Team that helped Gibbs' daughter is in jeopardy.
The unique program allows mental health workers to team up with deputies to help defuse potentially dangerous situations, sometimes steering people towards mental health care they need instead of a jail cell, or worse.
"This program pairs an expertly trained crisis intervention-trained deputy with a licensed mental health practitioner from (Santa Barbara County's) Behavioral Wellness Department to respond to calls in the community where there are mental health crises," said Cherylynn Lee, Behavioral Sciences Manager with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s office.
"They work 10-hour shifts, and they operate from unmarked sheriff's vehicles," she added. "We have four county teams, two that are currently placed in the south county, and two that are placed in the north county. We have coverage seven days a week, countywide."
She said the teams handled more than 2,000 cases in 2025.
"In addition to responding to calls that come through 911, the teams also engage in what's known as behavioral threat assessment and management. It's working with individuals in the community who are of concern and have the intent to commit targeted violence."
Grant funding is running short and could reduce services
Community mental health advocates and Santa Barbara County officials consider the program, which started in 2018, to be a big success. But there are questions about its future.
The teams cost about $475,000 a year to operate, which is about $1.9 million annually for all four teams. A combination of grants and county general funds has been paying for the program.
Grant funding for two of the teams is in place for the 2026 and 2027 fiscal years. The county will find out later this month if it will receive funding for the third team. But, as of now, there is no grant money in the next fiscal year for the fourth team.
County officials have already said that with cuts in federal and state funding, the next fiscal year will be difficult. On top of that, the passage of the state's Proposition 1 led to the reallocation of most county behavioral health funds from treatment programs to housing.
In a staff report, county officials said they could be forced to disband the fourth co-response team and reduce northern Santa Barbara County to four days a week coverage. The southern part of the county gets twice as many mental health-related calls as the north county. Seven-day-a-week coverage would continue in the southern part of the county.
The shortfall is expected to be a big issue at Santa Barbara County budget workshops, which start next week.
George Kaufman is a mental health program advocate in Santa Barbara County who hopes county supervisors will continue to make the teams a high priority.
"I've been uneasy about the future," he said. "We're going to find a way out of this."
Gibbs, whose daughter has been helped by one of the teams, said she can’t emphasize the importance of the program enough.
"This was a unique experience for us, but it's not a one-off event in mental health crisis. We just value this program and these teams so much. It's hard for me to express how very important it is to us."
