HISTORY
INTERIM WAS FOUNDED IN 1975 BY MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS, COMMUNITY MEMBERS, AND CLIENT FAMILIES
who saw a need for community-based alternatives to institutional care for people with psychiatric disabilities.
In the 70s, California was closing or scaling back State Mental Hospitals, and people were being released into the community without services, housing, or support. Some of Interim’s early residents had been in State Mental Hospitals and some had received treatment in acute care faculties. Our first project was a 12-bed halfway house in Monterey, developed in 1976. The following year, we opened a second halfway house in Salinas.
In the early 80s, Interim branched out in to vocational services, creating the Sunflour Cookie Company to provide vocational experiences for our clients. Although the business was eventually sold, we opened a second program in 1996, SEES, to help our clients find educational opportunities and meaningful work. Our efforts to create supportive employment opportunities for our clients were recognized in December 2009 when the State Department of Rehabilitation named Interim as an “Employer of the Year.”
In the mid-1980s, Interim created the Our Voices program, our first peer-led social support group for adults with mental illness.
In 2002, we opened MCHOME to provide outreach and support services for homeless adults with mental illness in collaboration with Monterey County Behavioral Health. MCHOME provides intensive integrated services and housing for homeless adults with mental illness to move them off the streets and into housing and treatment.
With the passage of California Proposition 63, the Mental Health Services Act, Interim was able to offer several new programs. In 2006, we opened a new 20-unit housing project with intensive support services designed to help homeless clients with mental illness who had difficulty in maintaining housing, Lupine Gardens. We also opened the OMNI Resource Center in Salinas, a peer-operated wellness and recovery program.
”I can now see how much Interim, NAMI (National Association for Mental Illness) and especially the consumers have done to educate the public, to reduce the stigma of mental illness, and to contribute to the process of recovery. I am proud to have been a part of Interim, an agency that has opened doors for so many consumers.
COREY MILLERFORMER INTERIM COMMUNITY HOUSING PROGRAM DIRECTOR 1977 – 2001 (Passed Away, 2015)
In 2007, we added the Keep it Real (formerly Dual Recovery Services) day program designed to help those in recovery from both mental illness and substance abuse disorders and expanded our homeless services, outreach, and housing.
In June 2010, we opened Sunflower Gardens, a 23-bed transitional and permanent housing project. It was the first affordable supportive housing project in California to earn Platinum certification (the top award) under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program of the US Green Building Council.
Based in Salinas, Interim opened the Pajaro Street Wellness Center in 2014. The Center houses the OMNI Resource Center and other programs. In 2016, Interim also began offering other services next door.
In December 2014, Interim opened Rockrose Gardens, a 20 unit permanent supportive housing project.
Recent History
In April 2018, Interim moved its Bridge house program, a dual-diagnosis treatment program for adults with a substance use disorder and a mental illness, into its newly constructed home in Marina. The Bridge House has 14 beds for residents as part of its transitional residential treatment program, and Bridge House clients attend the Wellness and Recovery Academy, a day rehabilitation program. Using the old Bridge House location in Monterey, Interim also opened a second 13-bed crisis residential facility for people experiencing mental health crisis.
Interim recently broke ground on a 17-bed project in Salinas, Sun Rose. The three-story complex will house 17 residents and a resident manager. There will be nine studio and one-bedroom units of permanent, affordable, supported housing for adults with psychiatric disabilities who are homeless, chronically homeless, or at risk of homelessness. Additionally, one floor of the complex will contain transitional housing for eight residents.
The Sun Rose Housing project will replace the existing Soledad House, located in Salinas, which Interim has owned since 1980. Soledad House was Interim’s original crisis residential facility and later provided transitional, shared housing. This property is in disrepair, and Interim will demolish the building and use the property to build the Sun Rose Apartments. Recent zoning changes made it possible to increase the number of units allowed on this property. Wald, Ruhnke & Dost Architects designed the project.
