Leadership shakeup at Stanislaus County mental health. Officials promise an overhaul

Stanislaus County leaders have appointed a new mental health director with the expectation of getting better results from a county department whose annual budget exceeds $130 million.

In a special closed-door meeting Monday, the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to make Deputy Executive Officer Ruben Imperial the interim director of Behavioral Health and Recovery Services. The department oversees county services for the mentally ill and those struggling with addiction.

Rick DeGette, the BHRS director since September 2016, is retiring. His last day with the county is Friday. He did not return two phone messages Tuesday.

Chief Executive Officer Jody Hayes and staff members recently spent significant time at BHRS learning about all aspects of running the department and the issues and challenges.

“We were not happy with the results we were getting,” Board of Supervisors Chairman Terry Withrow said Tuesday. “We need to figure out a way to get better results.”

The county has been moving toward a change in the department’s leadership in the past few months.

Hayes said at a mental health stakeholders meeting in May that DeGette, 59, was retiring and that a new permanent director won’t be hired right away, according to a person who attended the meeting.

“Jody’s plan was to do an overhaul of the department, and they are going to put together a strategic plan for operations and funding within six months,” said Rhonda Allen of the National Alliance on Mental Illness Stanislaus chapter.

Imperial previously spent 13 years in BHRS, as a manager of prevention and intervention services and chief of the adult system of care. In April 2015, he was assigned to the CEO’s office and a key management role over the county’s Focus on Prevention initiative, which aims to address the root causes of social dysfunction.

Imperial said Tuesday he will work for six to 12 months on developing a broad vision and strategy for BHRS. After that, top county officials will make a decision on a permanent director. Monday’s board decision directed Hayes to negotiate a salary and benefits package for Imperial for board approval July 16.

One expectation for the interim director is working on the mental health issues around homelessness.

“It’s the people you see on the street corner who are in distress and you ask: how can we help them as a community?” Imperial said. “We will develop a shared community vision for our local behavioral health system that serves this vulnerable population and make sure we have a path forward that is clear and focused on results.”

Imperial also pointed to new opportunities in the state for drug and alcohol treatment and addressing opiate addiction.

Withrow said the playing field for county behavioral health departments has vastly changed with a statewide homeless crisis and legislative reforms to decriminalize drug addiction in California.

Along with running a 16-bed psychiatric health facility, traditional mental health services and the Stanislaus Recovery Center in Ceres, the scope of responsibility for county BHRS increased when a statewide realignment in 2011 made the county responsible for many lower-level criminal offenders who have mental health and addiction issues.

DeGette was known for his expertise in job training for people with mental illness. Withrow said county leaders saw an opportunity to overhaul behavioral services with DeGette’s decision to retire.

“I think they felt like they wanted different leadership and to re-evaluate what the needs are in our county,” Allen said. “Ruben has been really involved with Focus on Prevention. He knows what is going on.”

Imperial takes over as interim director Saturday. In an internal announcement this week, Hayes wrote that Imperial had led development of the Homeless Outreach and Engagement Center in downtown Modesto and worked on multiple efforts “in the areas of homelessness, behavioral health, criminal justice and the integration of services to serve hard-to-reach populations.”

Imperial holds a bachelor’s degree and masters in business administration from Stanislaus State University.

This story was originally published July 3, 2019 at 4:36 PM.