{"id":508906,"date":"2026-10-26T23:58:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T23:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/508906\/"},"modified":"2026-10-26T23:58:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T23:58:11","slug":"bringing-care-closer-to-home-santa-clara-county-leaders-unveil-new-behavioral-health-pavilion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/508906\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Bringing care closer to home’: Santa Clara County leaders unveil new Behavioral Health Pavilion"},"content":{"rendered":"

After more than a decade of efforts made by Santa Clara County to fill a critical gap in local psychiatric treatment beds for children and adolescents, county leaders gathered on Monday to unveil a newly constructed Behavioral Health Pavilion that will provide both adult and minor patients with emergency psychiatric services.<\/p>\n

Starting Nov. 3, the new facility \u2014 which is part of the Santa Clara Valley Healthcare system \u2014 will offer local access to behavioral health services for young people facing mental health crises \u2014 services that families previously had to travel outside the county to receive<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The new facility has 77 inpatient treatment beds: 14 for children, 21 for adolescents and 42 for adults, said Otto Lee, president of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors.<\/p>\n

\"SantaSanta Clara County Board of Supervisors president Otto Lee (with glasses) is joined by other dignitaries as he cuts the ribbon during the unveiling of the new state-of-the-art Behavioral Health Pavilion at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, Oct. 26, 2026. The 207,000-square-foot building will have 77 beds with a walk-in urgent care clinic. Each floor will have an outdoor courtyard, including a rooftop court for basketball and other activities. The Behavioral Health Pavilion will open to the public on Nov. 3. (Jose Carlos Fajardo\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cToday we are cutting the ribbon, but what we really are doing is bringing care closer to home,\u201d Lee said. \u201cThis state-of-the-art pavilion fills this critical gap in our regional healthcare system. It expands access to specialized inpatient psychiatric care and gives people of all ages a safe and passionate environment to stabilize and begin healing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Santa Clara Valley Health \u2014 the county\u2019s public hospital system \u2014 runs four hospitals and several clinics across the county as the second-largest public hospital system in the state. The opening of the Behavioral Health Pavilion comes as Santa Clara County faces a $787 million dollar budget deficit<\/a> after the Trump administration slashed funding for Medicaid, which is known as Medi-Cal in California and provides healthcare to low-income and disabled individuals. The brunt of cost-cutting has hit the county\u2019s health system, with the majority of cut jobs sitting within the county\u2019s Behavioral Health Services.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are doing this while navigating significant fiscal challenges, including unprecedented federal funding cuts that threaten critical resources for healthcare services, but even as we face these challenges and a changing fiscal landscape, our commitment to the people of Santa Clara County remains unchanged,\u201d said County Executive James R. Williams. \u201cIn challenging times, we don\u2019t back down, we step forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A visitor tours the rooftop basketball court during a tour of the new state-of-the-art Behavioral Health Pavilion at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, Oct. 26, 2026. (Jose Carlos Fajardo\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A view of a patient\u2019s room located on the Child and Adolescent Psychiatric floor at the new state-of-the-art Behavioral Health Pavilion at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, Oct. 26, 2026. The 207,000-square-foot building will have 77 beds with a walk-in urgent care clinic. Each floor will have an outdoor courtyard, including a rooftop court for basketball and other activities. The Behavioral Health Pavilion will open to the public on Nov. 3. (Jose Carlos Fajardo\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A dining room area inside the new state-of-the-art Behavioral Health Pavilion at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, Oct. 26, 2026. The 207,000-square-foot building will have 77 beds with a walk-in urgent care clinic. Each floor will have an outdoor courtyard, including a rooftop court for basketball and other activities. The Behavioral Health Pavilion will open to the public on Nov. 3. (Jose Carlos Fajardo\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 3<\/p>\n

A visitor tours the rooftop basketball court during a tour of the new state-of-the-art Behavioral Health Pavilion at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, Oct. 26, 2026. (Jose Carlos Fajardo\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

The project was approved in 2017 and construction began in 2023 following years of delays<\/a>. The idea was sparked by a 2014 conversation former Supervisor Joe Simitian had with a member of the county\u2019s Behavioral Health Board about the lack of beds dedicated to treating young people with psychiatric concerns in the county.<\/p>\n

The new facility is \u201cstate of the art\u201d and \u201creflects how behavioral health services should be delivered,\u201d said Supervisor Susan Ellenberg.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt provides a safe and therapeutic environment for patients, a safe workplace for staff and a modern setting designed to support recovery and treatment,\u201d Ellenberg said.<\/p>\n

The facility is split into several units to serve adults, adolescents aged 12 to 17 and children under the age of 12. Units are further separated into those designed for short stays under 24 hours, where patients can sit in the \u201cnight area\u201d filled with multicolored reclining chairs or \u201cday area,\u201d where patients can commune with others, and longer-term stays, with single and double rooms complete with private bathrooms, shelves and desks. The facility also includes outdoor areas and a rooftop basketball court for patient enrichment.<\/p>\n

The new facility also allows patients to open and close ventilation slots at the base of their windows, Lee said \u2014 allowing patients \u201csome control.\u201d<\/p>\n

County leaders lauded the new facility as an important step toward providing care locally \u2014 counteracting a problem across the state in which families have had to face a \u201cheartbreaking reality\u201d when children are placed far away from home when the necessary care is not available locally, Ellenberg said.<\/p>\n

\"AudienceAudience members listen as Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors president Otto Lee speaks during the unveiling of the new state-of-the-art Behavioral Health Pavilion at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, Oct. 26, 2026. The 207,000-square-foot building will have 77 beds with a walk-in urgent care clinic. Each floor will have an outdoor courtyard, including a rooftop court for basketball and other activities. The Behavioral Health Pavilion will open to the public on Nov. 3. (Jose Carlos Fajardo\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFor too long, young people facing both psychiatric and medical challenges often experienced fragmented care, navigating separate systems that were not designed to serve the whole person,\u201d Ellenberg added. \u201cFamilies were left to manage a system. It often separated physical health from mental health, creating unnecessary barriers at the very moment support is needed the most.\u201d<\/p>\n

County Supervisor Sylvia Arenas, who recalled facing difficulties while looking for behavioral health resources for her own children during the pandemic, called the new facility a \u201cmajor step forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are 77 beds that offer 77 opportunities to stabilize our children, stabilize our youth, especially our Latino youth,\u201d Arenas said, adding that the county\u2019s 2025 Latino Health Assessment found that 19% of Latinos in the Santa Clara County community reported experiencing \u201cserious psychological distress\u201d over the previous year. \u201cIt\u2019s so important when young people are in crisis that they are close to family and their community. This can be fundamental in the change and in the recovery process. Now, many of our kids will be able to participate in treatment without needing to miss school, a critical step towards going from crisis to success.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AA view of the new state-of-the-art Behavioral Health Pavilion at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, Oct. 26, 2026. The 207,000-square-foot building will have 77 beds with a walk-in urgent care clinic. Each floor will have an outdoor courtyard, including a rooftop court for basketball and other activities. The Behavioral Health Pavilion will open to the public on Nov. 3. (Jose Carlos Fajardo\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

The new facility is an \u201cimportant investment\u201d in the community at a time when the state has spent decades disinvesting in its mental health facilities, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know our young people are increasingly suffering from mental health challenges. The world is a stressful place,\u201d Mahan said. \u201cThe earlier that we get someone connected to a counselor, understand what\u2019s going on in their lives, what their stressors are, teach some coping mechanisms and just help them lead healthy lives, the better off they are.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After more than a decade of efforts made by Santa Clara County to fill a critical gap in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":508907,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[184,7,8,1570,1280,1533,181,23,2093,100,2944,182,88,90,89,198,200],"class_list":["post-508906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-bay-area","tag-california","tag-california-news","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-keywee","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-mental-health","tag-news","tag-photos-and-videos","tag-pm-report","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-santa-clara-county","tag-south-bay"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=508906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508906\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/508907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}