Mission
Casa Pacifica inspires hope and nurtures mental health and well-being of children, young adults, and families to realize their full potential.
Vision
We envision a world where all children, young adults and their families benefit from mental health services to achieve their full potential. We do this by removing the stigma related to mental health services and providing easy access.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Statement
We are a diverse and inclusive team providing excellent services to all our communities. Our team members are empowered to share their identities, ideas, and perspectives. A culture built on diversity, equity and inclusivity is essential to creating a safe and healing environment at Casa Pacifica.
Values
Casa Pacifica practices the following values to serve as a role model for young people and to prepare them for choices during their lifetime.
Respect
To consider worthy of high regard, a feeling of great approval.
- Admiration
- Consideration
- Concern
- Regard
Compassion
Sorrow or the capacity to feel sorrow for another’s suffering or misfortune.
- Charity
- Kindness
- Forgiveness
- Goodwill
Integrity
Conduct that conforms to an accepted standard of right and wrong and a devotion to telling the truth.
- Honor
- Honesty
- Goodness
- Completeness
- Character
Courage
Strength of mind to carry on in spite of danger.
- Bravery
- Resiliency
- Heart
- Heroism
History of Casa Pacifica
Casa Pacifica was conceived of in the late 1980’s in direct response to a lack of services in Ventura County for children entering the foster care system – children removed from home for abuse and/or neglect – resulting in their placement in other counties away from family, school, and all that was familiar. In addition, children/youth already in the foster care system whose behavioral and emotional issues were too complex for them to be successful in a foster home or group home in the community were also being placed out of the county.
A public/private sector steering committee formed, co-chaired by the Departments of Child & Family Services and Behavioral health. The committee came up with a vision – based on the needs of Ventura County – for a campus-based crisis-care center offering a range of assessment, trauma care, medical, residential, and educational services to children entering the child welfare system – a place where family visits could occur. A public/private partnership formed raising the $10 million needed to build Casa Pacifica, which opened in 1994.
In 2000, Casa Pacifica began providing community-based services in Ventura County, and in 2003 in Santa Barbara County, designed to keep children and their families together, safely, and prevent removal from their homes and communities. In 2007, recognizing a tremendous lack of services for transitional and emancipating foster youth who were most at risk of homelessness, substance abuse, unemployment, school drop-out, etc., Casa Pacifica expanded its programs to help prepare youth for life after foster care through services including transitional housing, education assistance, employment readiness, basic living skills, parenting skills, transportation, and financial literacy.
And in 2016, the agency launched its Camino a Casa program serving youth at-risk of, or returning from, a psychiatric hospitalization – providing three levels of care from residential treatment to outpatient or day services. The program is accessible to families with private insurance whose sons/daughters would benefit from services like those the agency provides in its county-referral-only programs. Today, Casa Pacifica is the largest non-profit provider of children’s and adolescent mental health services in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties, with outcomes that consistently exceed national averages. The agency serves more than 2,000 at-risk youth and families every year in residential, outpatient and community-based settings.