The Lodi Wellness Center, a hub for substance abuse and mental health support, will close at the end of June due to changes in state funding priorities. The center was one of three facilities run by San Joaquin County’s Behavioral Health Services. A Manteca clinic already closed in December due to lack of demand, leaving only a Stockton center in operation after the Lodi location closes.
Proposition 1 redirects funding to housing services
Proposition 1, which passed in 2024, reallocated behavioral health funding from prevention to housing services. The proposition uses money generated from a 1% income tax on millionaires. For San Joaquin County, this shift means insufficient funding to maintain the Lodi center. The Lodi facility ran 20 weekly support groups and served about 50 to 75 individuals this fiscal year. Lead coach Thomas Beam described the center’s peer-based model, noting that most staff members had been impacted by mental health or substance abuse struggles themselves. Beam emphasized the center’s role: “our main job here…is not to try to treat somebody, but just to support them.”
Broader state-level reorganization
Starting July 1, more funding and management for mental health programs will shift to the state level, including an additional 5% from county budgets and all prevention service funding. Behavioral Health Services director Fay Vieira acknowledged that these changes will “dramatically reduce” county funding but emphasized potential benefits: “When someone has housing, they’re more likely to participate in treatment and more likely to get better.” She noted that while some counties have fully closed prevention programs, San Joaquin County is consolidating services to Stockton. The county will help Lodi members with transportation to Stockton and continue providing services through its Lodi office on Tokay Street.
Future opportunities and ongoing support
Vieira said the county had anticipated these funding challenges and spent time planning how to consolidate and reorganize service delivery. While the Manteca center is likely to remain closed, the Lodi center may reopen at some point. The Newsom administration announced a second round of bond funding from Prop. 1, with San Joaquin County projects including crisis care mobile units, a youth center, and a behavioral health care facility in French Camp.
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://www.lodinews.com/news/article_d89a3563-90d6-4b31-85ba-d4e2d95aab1d.html