Connecting Our Community: News & Updates

LACDMH and Hollywood 4WRD hosted a Hollywood 2.0 open house at the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood on Nov. 19 to update stakeholders and the public on the latest news from the five-year pilot project. The event featured remarks from LACDMH Chief Medical Officer Curley L. Bonds, M.D.; Hollywood 4WRD Executive Director Brittney Weissman; and more.

LACDMH and the program’s stakeholders celebrated the accomplishments of the 2.0 program, including the 1,608 clients served by the Hollywood Mental Health Cooperative and the 34 clients moved from interim to permanent supportive housing. Karla Bennett, a LACDMH Mental Health Program Manager II at the Hollywood Wellness Center, discussed the status of the community-based program through 2024 and shared what to look out for in the first half of 2025.

Next, DMH’s Hollywood Mental Health Clinic shared how it is supporting the new vision for Hollywood. The clinic invited a client of theirs to speak, Gabriela, who shared her story as a transgender woman. Speaking clinic staff included Dr. Rebecca Gitlin, Supervising Psychologist; Nvard Simonyan, Psychiatric Social Worker II; Vianney Vazquez, Mental Health Clinical Supervisor; Laura Grello, Mental Health Clinical Supervisor; and, Vanessa Linares, an Intermediate Typist Clerk.

The program wrapped up with Brian Pelsoh from IDEO and Stephanie Holliday from RAND. Pelsoh and IDEO are leading the public education campaign for Hollywood 2.0, and he shared the designs that will be posted around Hollywood, starting Jan. 6, 2025. Holliday shared how RAND is evaluating the implementation of the pilot program.

You settle into your hotel room, turn on the TV, and see the hotel’s homepage display a land acknowledgment. As you explore the city, you notice land acknowledgments at museums and local businesses, and contemporary Indigenous art and exhibits are everywhere. It happens to be National Reconciliation Week. At your next destination, just a short plane ride away, Indigenous art and language are prominently featured in public signage and on TV. You feel awe, peace, and hope — this is not a dream. This is present-day Sydney, Australia, and New Zealand. These societies are deeply engaged in land acknowledgment and much more. Suddenly, L.A. County’s recent adoption of a land acknowledgment feels like a tangible first step on the path to healing and reconciliation, and LACDMH is well-positioned to lead the way.

On November 1, 2022, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors unanimously adopted a Land Acknowledgment for the County. You may have heard it at County events, or most recently from Director Dr. Lisa H. Wong at our last LACDMH Town Hall meeting. You may be wondering: Why should I care?

At its core, the Countywide Land Acknowledgment centers the First Peoples by honoring their strength, resilience, and ongoing contributions to Los Angeles County. It emphasizes that they are still here and remain connected to their ancestral lands. Land acknowledgments can create space for truth-telling and pave the way for action and healing — if we let them.

During a nine-month engagement process, local tribes helped shape the acknowledgment and contributed to a report titled We Are Still Here: A Report on Past, Present, and Ongoing Harms Against Local Tribes (known as the Harms Report). This report reflects their thoughts, needs, and recommendations for how L.A. County can begin to address past wrongs, restore relationships with the land and people, and dismantle systemic barriers.

Building on these efforts, the Countywide Land Acknowledgment Implementation Guide offers practical advice on delivering acknowledgments and, more importantly, guidance on moving beyond words. While LACDMH operates the American Indian Counseling Center, there is much more we can do to improve the mental health outcomes of American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) communities — outcomes deeply impacted by settler colonialism and the disruption of traditional healing systems. By engaging with AIAN staff and consumers, we have the chance to make meaningful, systemic commitments to Anti-Racism, Inclusion, Solidarity, and Empowerment.

How will you commit to learning and taking action?

Submitted by Dr. Andrea N. Garcia, co-chair of DMH’s Anti-Racism, Inclusion, Solidarity and Empowerment (ARISE) Staff Advisory Council.

On Oct. 1, the Veteran Peer Access Network (VPAN) contract will officially move from the Department of Mental Health (LACDMH) to the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (MVA). Veteran & Military Family Services (VMFS) will provide direct mental health services to vets and military families while continuing to connect them with services.

The contract, administered by Southern California Grantmakers, provides oversight to Community Based Organizations (CBO) operating VPAN offices in the field. Those CBOs are currently JVS (Supervisorial Districts 1 & 5), Veterans West (SD 2 & 4), and Goodwill SoCal (SD 3).

DMH staff currently operating as part of VPAN will be reorganized under the new VMFS which will be based on Los Angeles County Service Planning Areas (SPA) versus the SD model upon which VPAN operates.

“DMH and MVA are working closely together to ensure a successful transition as smoothly as possible,” said Dr. Rhonda Higgins, current VPAN Program Director, who will serve in the same capacity for VMFS.

While some staff will remain at Bob Hope Patriotic Hall in downtown Los Angeles, others will be relocated to various locations across the eight SPAs. Three locations have already been identified at “Old Edelman” in Culver City, the Behavioral Health Center at the MLK campus in Compton and a new location in Long Beach.

“We’ll continue to provide world-class mental health services using the peer-to-peer model for vets regardless of discharge status,” explained VPAN Program Managers Anh Tran and Nancy Pelayo, both of whom will also continue serving in that capacity for VMFS. “At the same time, we’re embracing the ARDI [Anti-Racism Diversity Inclusion] approach to remain culturally informed and responsive.”

VMFS will eventually transition to a Full Service Partnership, or FSP, providing intensive mental health services while taking a holistic approach to the other needs veterans and military families may have.

Submitted by William R. Wilson.

The Los Angeles County Suicide Prevention (LASPN) hosted its 14^th annual summit on Sep. 10 and 11 during Suicide Prevention Month at the California Endowment. This year’s theme was Shining Our Light Together: Destigmatizing and Preventing Suicide. The event brought together mental health professionals, advocates, survivors, providers, researchers, and representatives from various agencies and organizations to work together to decrease the number of suicides in Los Angeles County.

The first day’s highlight was the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles, which performed songs of survival and joy. Several choir members also spoke about their own experiences and how they overcame their mental health struggles. There were also featured remarks by LACDMH Director Dr. Lisa H. Wong; Kristin Sakoda, Director of the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture Director; Dr. Priya Batra, Deputy Director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, and more.

The second day featured a heartfelt, candid discussion between suicide attempt survivors and loved ones of people who died by suicide as well as keynote programming from Dino Alzadon, a Program Coordinator for Didi Hirsch Suicide Prevention Center, and a discussion with former foster youth from the National Foster Youth Institute. There were also remarks from D’Artagnan Scorza, Executive Director of Racial Equity for Los Angeles County, actress Sarah Gilman, and more.

Both days featured an awards ceremony, honoring committed suicide prevention advocates with the Dr. Sam Chan and Dr. James Cunningham Hero Award for Outstanding Leadership, the Hero Award for Collaboration, the Hero Award for Innovation, Sam & Lois Bloom Hero Award for Outstanding Advocacy, Dr. Elaine Leader Award for Outstanding Youth, and the Hero Award for Inspirational Mentorship. Attendees also participated in several wellness workshops and activities.

LACDMH has launched a new podcast, Mental Health on the Frontlines, which highlights innovative and effective approaches to mental health support. The first two episodes, available on Apple Podcasts, focus on Peer Resource Centers (PRCs) – welcoming spaces where individuals seeking help are greeted by others who have faced similar emotional challenges.

Episode one features LACDMH peers Catherine Clay and Joseph Cuevas, while episode two spotlights PRC administrators Tosha Sweet and Tammy Lofton. Both episodes explore successful mental health programs and the importance of these efforts in our communities. This special series is part of the Commentaries from the Edge podcast, hosted by Keren Goldberg.

Click here to listen on Apple Podcasts.

Last month, LACDMH staff were invited by the nonprofit Los Angeles Poverty Department to visit its “Welcome to the COVID Hotel” exhibition in Downtown Los Angeles. Through artwork, recorded interviews and discussions, “Welcome to the COVID Hotel” highlights the unique challenges and opportunities to provide healthcare services to the homeless community during the lockdown period of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly to persons experiencing homelessness in quarantine & isolation sites throughout the County.

Multiple LACDMH staff were interviewed as part of this project, and they shared their experiences on how they adapted to the evolving situation and collaborated with other agencies and care providers to ensure clients’ safety and wellbeing. They and others also shared lessons learned and new opportunities that arose from this time – such as the recently formed Interim Housing Outreach Project in partnership with the Departments of Health Services and Public Health to better serve clients and support providers at shelters, motels, tiny homes, and other interim settings.

“Welcome to the COVID Hotel” will be on display at the Skid Row History Museum & Archive through December 14, 2024. For more information about the exhibition, visit the Los Angeles Poverty Department’s website.

The Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health celebrated three new beginnings recently with the groundbreaking for Wesley Health Centers in Skid Row on Sept. 19, the grand opening of the Las Palmas apartments in Wilmington on Sept. 27, and a groundbreaking for the North Hollywood Health Center on Oct. 7.

Wesley Health Centers broke ground on its new adult residential substance use disorder (SUD) treatment facility and wellness center for people experiencing homelessness and/or mental health issues. The SUD treatment facility will house 38 beds while the community wellness center will serve 3,258 individuals.

LACDMH Director Dr. Lisa H. Wong spoke alongside the Office of First District Supervisor Hilda L. Solis; Libby Boyce, Deputy Director of the L.A. Department of Health Services, Housing for Health; and more. The project was jointly created by Wesley Health Centers and the California Department of Health Care Services.

The Las Palmas supportive housing complex is an adaptive-reuse project in Wilmington for 53 residents. The former grocery store features studio and one-bedroom apartments built into the existing structure. LACDMH’s Carrie Esparza, a Mental Health Program Manager IV, attended the event on behalf of the Department and spoke alongside L.A. County Fourth District Supervisor Janice Hahn.

The project was co-developed and co-owned by Brilliant Corners and The Richman Group. Brilliant Corners is providing on-site wrap-around supportive services and The Richman Group is managing the property.

Dr. Wong spoke alongside L.A. County Fifth District Supervisor Kathryn Barger at the North Hollywood Health Center groundbreaking. The 50,000-square-foot facility is due to be completed in 2026 and will provide an integrated care model, including medical, mental health and wellness services.

Located on Tujunga Avenue in the heart of North Hollywood, the state-of-the-art health center is located a few blocks from Metro’s North Hollywood station. The three-story building will include examination rooms, phlebotomy stations, a wellness center, a laboratory, outdoor community gardens and a demonstration kitchen.

The event also featured Dr. Barbara Ferrer, Director of the L.A. County Department of Public Health; Quentin O’Brien, CEO of Ambulatory Care Network for the L.A. County Department of Health Services; and Mark Pestrella, Director of L.A. County Public Works.

Under the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) initiative, California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM), counties must consolidate their 24/7 helplines for mental health and substance use assistance. Effective July 9, 2024, the Department of Mental Health and the Department of Public Health’s Substance Abuse Prevention and Control (SAPC) have merged these functions into one call center at 510 S. Vermont Ave. This is part of an ongoing effort to integrate 11 administrative functions across substance use and mental health over the next few years.

Callers to the substance abuse line at (844) 804-7500 will be automatically redirected to the new line. For both mental health and substance use resources, callers can dial (800) 854-7771. The centralized call center offers language options for all threshold languages in Los Angeles County and has simplified the menu options to reach a live agent more efficiently.

The centralized call center offers language options for all threshold languages in Los Angeles County and has simplified the menu options to reach a live agent more efficiently. When calling, the following options will be:

(Click to view larger image.)

Beacon Landing, San Pedro’s newest supportive housing complex, hosted its grand opening on Thursday, July 18. Mental Health Program Manager IV Carrie Esparza attended the event and delivered inspiring remarks to the dozens of collaborators and residents who gathered in the courtyard.

The event’s highlight was Beacon Landing resident Katherine Hove, who spoke candidly about her experience surviving homelessness. She shared how a drug and alcohol addiction drove her to the streets. As her physical health and hygiene deteriorated, her mental health did as well. She spoke of how she frequently considered ending her life.

Despite these challenges, Hove has put them behind her and has spoken in-depth about how moving into Beacon Landing changed her life.

“I stand a little taller, I feel a little better,” Hove said. “I have to remind myself I have a kitchen to cook food in. I have a home to go into now…I thrive in building my shattered past into something beautiful — a life worth living.”

The modular apartments, built just across the main channel of the Port of Los Angeles, features 89 studios. LACDMH funded 43 units with more than $6 million by No Place Like Home dollars. Abode Communities developed and managed the development while LA Family Housing provides supportive services to lift people out of homelessness.

The event also included remarks from a representative out of L.A. County Fourth District Supervisor Janice Hahn’s Office; a representative from Assemblymember Mike Gipson’s Office; Ann Sewill, General Manager of the City of Los Angeles’ Housing Department; Tracie Mann, Chief of Programs for the Los Angeles County Development Authority; Tim Young, Special Programs Coordinator for the Housing Authority of the City of L.A.; Holly Benson, Abode Communities President & CEO; Amber Sheikh, Chief Impact Officer at Sheikh/Impact; Lara Regus, Senior Vice President of Development for Abode Communities; Rosalind Ross, Vice President of Community Development Banking for Chase; Reagan Maechling, Vice President of Acquisitions for Housing Credit Investments; and, Kimberly Roberts, Chief Program Officer for LA Family Housing.

On Thursday, May 16^th, LACDMH joined Friends of the Children – Los Angeles (FOTC – LA) to celebrate the launch of a new location in Long Beach, expanding the mentorship program’s reach in the Long Beach and South County community. FOTC is a national nonprofit organization that selects and invites youth with unique talents, interests, and dreams who face multiple systemic obstacles to be paired with a paid, professional mentor called a Friend. FOTC hires and trains Friends to support youth from as early as age four through high school, for 12+ years, no matter what.

FOTC-LA is a unique program that provides mentoring to youth facing significant challenges, particularly those at risk of entering the foster care system. The program incorporates a 2Gen approach, which includes supporting both the youth and their parents/caregivers. FOTC-LA is devoted to “impacting generational change by empowering youth who are facing the greatest obstacles through relationships with professional mentors.”

In partnership with LACDMH and the L.A. County Board of Supervisors (led by Second District County Supervisor Mitchell), FOTC-LA is expanding its services throughout L.A. County. Over the next three years, the program will extend to each service area to ensure that youth and families receive the necessary supportive services.