The mission of El Hogar
Community Services, Inc.
is to provide services
that contribute to the
mental health and
emotional well-being of
individuals and families
in the
community.
El Hogar is an
outpatient mental health
agency serving adults in
the Sacramento community
who are experiencing
severe and persistent
mental illness. The
agency has been
designated by the County
of Sacramento to provide
mental health services
to “target populations”
– persons meeting
specified psychiatric
diagnoses.
History of El Hogar
El Hogar Community
Services, Inc. has been
in existence since 1977,
originally created under
the auspices of the
Sacramento Concilio to
provide mental health
services to the Latino
community. It is from
these beginnings the
agency took its name,
which translates to “The
Home” (or “The Hearth”)
in Spanish. Over the
years, El Hogar has
expanded its services
beyond its original
client base and has
evolved to address the
needs of our diverse
cultural and ethnic
community.
El Hogar’s Guest House Homeless Clinic has
been serving the
homeless community since
1987. The Guest House
offers outpatient
medication services,
case management, mental
health supportive
services, and a variety
of groups to homeless
individuals residing in
Sacramento County. The
program is a point of
entry into the
Sacramento County mental
health system of care.
In 1993, Sacramento
County redesigned its
mental health service
delivery system, and El
Hogar became one of four
“Regional Support
Teams,” providing client
driven services to all
adults meeting the
county’s “target
population” criteria.
Services include
psychosocial assessment
and evaluation,
individual and group
therapy, case
management, medication,
and social
rehabilitation.
Additional services are
offered by the Regional
Support Team through its
Enhancement Team, which
delivers direct mental
health services in the
community, targeting
board and care
facilities. El Hogar also
created the Elder Care
Intensive Service
Program through a grant
from the California
Endowment to fill gaps
in services for older
adults with severe and
persistent mental
illness. This program
sunset in 2003, but
later became the model
for the Sierra Elder
Wellness Program.
In 1999, El Hogar was
able to significantly
expand the services it
provides to the homeless
mentally ill in
Sacramento County
through the passage of
Assembly Bill 34
(Steinberg), which
authorized $10 million
for the creation of
programs to provide
integrated community
outreach support to
individuals who were
homeless, at risk of
homelessness or
incarceration, and had a
serious mental illness.
El Hogar was fortunate
to be one of two
providers in the
Sacramento region to be
selected to initiate a
pilot program. In 2000,
the California
Legislature passed
Assembly Bill 2034
(Steinberg), to
appropriate
approximately $55
million to expand this
program to an additional
23 counties. Despite
the tremendous success
of this program, state
funding cuts forced the
closure of this program
in the spring of 2008.
In May of 2007, El Hogar
Community Services, Inc.
expanded services to the
older adult population
through the Sierra Elder
Wellness Program.
Funded through MHSA
(Mental Health Service
Act) dollars, the goal
of the program is to
address the need for
specialized outpatient
mental health services
that fit the needs of
the growing older adult
population (age 60+), as
well as transition age
adults (age 55-59) in
Sacramento County. The
Sierra Elder Wellness
Program has a capacity
of 174 older adults that
meet the criteria for
mental health services
in Sacramento County and
may also have multiple
problems that create
barriers to services or
place the individual at
risk of victimization.
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