Health isn’t just something we get at the doctor’s office: It starts in families, schools and workplaces, and neighborhoods. We address the conditions in which people in our community live so that everyone has the benefit of a long, healthy life.
As the largest provider of health and human services in Santa Cruz County, we serve 6,000 community members yearly through nearly 40 safety-net programs – from early childhood development, mental health, and substance use treatment to health and housing support. We stand for dignity, equity, and justice. With the support of our partners and community members, we are transforming our community into one in which everyone is healthy, thriving, and able to reach their full potential.
Santa Cruz County is in the midst of a substance use epidemic, and it will take our entire community to create real solutions. Of the thousands of community members experiencing substance use disorder, a fraction access treatment due to high costs, limited program openings and stigma around addiction. Encompass is addressing this issue head on.
We are building a state-of-the-art Behavioral Health Center that will serve those in need countywide to deliver high quality, accessible, personalized, bilingual substance use and mental health treatment to more than 1,300 community members a year.
Our all-in-one campus will help us meet every individual where they are in their recovery journey through connected programs with varying levels of residential and outpatient treatment – all in an atmosphere of dignity and respect where they can thrive. The center will build on our 30-year history of serving the Watsonville community through bilingual programming that is led by Latinos with lived experience with SUD.
Sí Se Puede saved my life, it really did. A lot of it was my cooperation, but a lot of it was also the counselors having patience with me, and men pulling me aside and checking in on me, asking me how I was doing. It was learning how to take off the masks that I’ve worn in so many situations in my life and learn how to find out who Adrian is.
Adrian R., Watsonville
