County Will Convert Hillmont House into Mental Health Crisis Center for County

The Ventura County Board of Supervisors approved by 4-1 a proposal to convert Hillmont House into the county’s first mental health crisis center.

Under the plan Hillmont House, Ventura’s long-term psychiatric home, will become a short-term crisis center. The patients who would occupy the nine long-term spots at the facility at present will move to Camarillo’s Casa de Esperanza, giving Hillmont House a total of 15 beds for patients needing short-term care.

Ventura County’s portion of proceeds from Proposition 63 will fund the crisis center, which will cost about $2 million to operate annually. The county will save around $3 million by converting the present facility rather than building a new one.