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Orange County To Get Two New Mental Health Centers For Youth
Above, the School of Social Ecology building at UCI that will house one of the new youth mental health centers. Below, the "You Are Loved” mural in the hallway across from where the UCI center will be located.
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Courtesy UCI
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Orange County is slated to get two new mental health centers for youth in partnership with UC Irvine.
They’ll focus on the needs of those ages 12-25, as experts say those are the years when initial mental health concerns often arise.
One of the no-appointment-required centers will be on the UCI campus. The second will be in south Orange County, but the exact location has not been finalized.
Organizers say the drop-in centers will offer on-site services such as personalized therapy. But they will go beyond that, partly out of necessity, said Program Director Stephen Schueller.
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“We’re never going to have enough professionals, and so the one-to-one model is not going to work,” said Schueller, an associate professor in UCI's Department of Psychological Science.
Schueller believes group therapy is a good alternative. “I’ve run a lot of therapy groups in the past and they’re very powerful,” he said, adding that the group dynamic can help people see things in other people that it may be hard to see in themselves.
The centers will provide opportunities for training to UCI psychology students, while providing low- or no-cost services to clients, Schueller said.
The new locations will be based on a youth-centered model developed at Stanford.
The O.C. centers should be open by the end of 2022, with two L.A. County sites to follow. Organizers said the O.C. locations are funded in part by a $2 million grant from the state.
The new resources come amid growing concern about youth mental health. Last month, the U.S. Surgeon General issued an advisory warning of a mental health crisis among the nation’s youth — a crisis he said has been made worse by the pandemic.
Assistance For Mental Health Crises Or Support
If you or someone you know is in crisis and needs immediate help, call or text the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988, or visit the 988 website for online chat.
For more help:
- Find 5 Action Steps for helping someone who may be suicidal, from the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
- Six questions to ask to help assess the severity of someone's suicide risk, from the Columbia Lighthouse Project.
- To prevent a future crisis, here's how to help someone make a safety plan.
- Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health’s 24/7 Help Line (Spanish available): 800-854-7771.
- East Los Angeles Women’s Center 24/7 crisis hotline (Spanish available): 800-585-6231.
Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741 for 24/7 crisis counseling.
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But the game has changed: Congress voted to eliminate funding for public media across the country. Here at LAist that means a loss of $1.7 million in our budget every year. We want to assure you that despite growing threats to free press and free speech, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust. Speaking frankly, the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news in our community.
We’re asking you to stand up for independent reporting that will not be silenced. With more individuals like you supporting this public service, we can continue to provide essential coverage for Southern Californians that you can’t find anywhere else. Become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission.
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