Transforming the Traditional Mental Health System Through Peer Staffed Respite Programs

Yana began her career studying Art Therapy as an independent major at UCSC under the mentorship of Janie Rhyne, who wrote the Gestalt Art Experience.  She graduate the University of  California Santa Cruz with honors. She got her Masters degree in Counseling at the University of San Franciso.  She was hired as a staff member at Soteria House in San Jose California.  This was the beginning of her career in the  mental health field, though she didn’t know it.  Later she was hired by the County of Santa Cruz Mental Health Department and has worked there for over 30 years, first as a “Crisis Worker,” later to become supervisor and currently is a Senior Behavioral Health Manager for the Adult Outpatient Services. She recently authored and was awarded a SAMHSA Transformation Grant  in 2010 for the County to create a Peer Run Respite house, now known as Second Story, in Santa Cruz, CA.

Yana Jacobs Transforming the Traditional Mental Health System Through Peer Staffed Respite Programs

by

September 28, 2012

This is a brief description of the project design and some reflections on “lessons being learned” at Second Story, a Peer Run Respite service in California. Second Story invites people to come before they are in crisis, to take personal responsibility and prevent spiraling into a crisis, which often results in an involuntary hospitalization. Former guests often stop by to talk, and visit with current guests. Sometimes they ask to volunteer, to give back to the community by running a group, gardening, cleaning, cooking, whatever they wish to offer. They are growing their own support community.
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