The West Marin Multi-Service Center has bolstered its workforce significantly in the last year to address holes in outreach and accessibility and strengthen programs for substance abuse and family and senior services. Chloe Cook, the center’s manager, said offering in-person resources and hiring bilingual workers has made a measurable impact. Forty-four percent of the center’s clients report as Spanish-speaking.
“The immigrant and Spanish-speaking community is much more interested in actively pursuing behavioral health services,” she said. “They have been historically not interested in seeking that help, but that’s really shifted throughout the pandemic. We really have an opportunity to get the appropriate needs met and that’s a huge priority for our office.”
The multi-service center, which is under the umbrella of Marin Health and Human Services, has been in service since 1972. But high turnover in leadership and inconsistent funding for the last 12 to 15 years left the center vulnerable, Ms. Cook said.
The center had just one behavioral health clinician for nearly two decades until he retired in 2020. Since then, the center has been bringing in social workers from Central Marin.
Now the center is staffed with two full-time and three part-time social workers that assist residents through therapy, senior services and streamlining access to employment and health care services.
When she came in February of last year, Ms. Cook said she knew exactly what the center needed, but also that it would take patience and resourcefulness to get there. While she worked toward hiring more social workers, the need for behavioral health around substance abuse became apparent. “Rural communities historically have hidden pockets and individuals that suffer from substance abuse disorder,” she said.
Aldemar Martinez started working at the multi-service center five months ago, providing in-person bilingual therapy every Wednesday. Before Mr. Martinez, there was no option for Spanish-speaking community members to seek consistent therapy from a local provider. From domestic violence to substance abuse and trauma, Mr. Martinez said his clientele mostly lives on ranches.
Last spring, a new pilot program brought a dedicated social worker to Muir Beach, Stinson Beach and Bolinas to serve West Marin residents who might not be able to travel to the Point Reyes office. Caren Gately now works Mondays and Tuesdays in Point Reyes Station, and travels to Tomales when needed.
The center has had two full-time social workers for the last year and a half: Michael Turrigiano, who specializes in senior social services, and Guadalupe Polito, who is bilingual. Carmen Peron works fulltime as a support service worker, helping people navigate applications and paperwork for services. Ruby Aguirre-Gutierrez is a social worker for children and family services and works one day a week. Establishing a rapport with local children and families helps to build trust in a service that can be intimidating and frightening to immigrant families, she said.
Ms. Cook said that in July, the center will increase its therapy services to two to three days a week with two new part-time providers, one English-speaking and one bilingual.
The center has also offered Narcan, an emergency overdose medicine, freely to residents since April. Normally, two doses of Narcan cost over $100 at a pharmacy. “It’s not just drug addicts that are using [Narcan],” she said. “It can be used for seniors getting their medications confused, children getting into drug cabinets. It’s a great rescue tool because it doesn’t interfere with any other body function.”
Fernando Barreto and Rhonda Kutter, who work as aides to Supervisor Dennis Rodoni and as liaisons to the county, spend part of their time at the multi-service center. Mr. Barreto, who is bilingual, comes in every other Monday and Ms. Kutter comes every other Friday.
Ms. Cook also runs a collaborative internship program through the county. Interns from the University of San Francisco, the University of California, San Francisco and Dominican University come to West Marin for home visits and do telehealth, helping translate and navigate the health care system for Spanish-speaking patients.
“The system is not consistently equitable in language,” Ms. Cook said. “If you don’t have medical training, it can be very hard. Having a public health nurse there to advocate for you is a vital program.”