Support for LAist comes from
Audience-funded nonprofit news
Stay Connected
Audience-funded nonprofit news
Listen

Share This

News

LA Public Library Wants You To Check Out Your Mental Health Along With Those Books And CDs

A beige stone and blue and white tile sign reads "Los Angeles Public Library."
A sign outside the Central Library in downtown L.A.
(
Wikimedia Commons
)

With our free press under threat and federal funding for public media gone, your support matters more than ever. Help keep the LAist newsroom strong, become a monthly member or increase your support today . 

The Los Angeles Public Library is well-known for its public programs and as the go-to place for checking out books and CDs. Now, it could become a place where Angelenos can get help with their mental health, too.

The library is looking for “multiple entities to provide professional mental health services and/or social services at the Central Library and the branch library facilities on an as-needed basis.”

“We’re not saying we’re going to have meeting rooms that are going to be therapy centers, but we’re open to change,” said Karen Pickard-Four, head of LAPL’s Library Experience Office. In the near future, Pickard-Four said she sees the library becoming a place where patrons can get connected to a resource that can help with their mental health.

Having mental health professionals and social workers contracting directly with the library could also help people who visit the library and are experiencing a serious mental health crisis.

Support for LAist comes from

“We’re trying to have less police involvement,” Pickard-Four said. “If someone is in crisis, sometimes it can cause an incident, and the best person to handle that is a mental health worker,” she added.

Pickard-Four said expenditures for the new mental health and social workers would be covered by LAPL’s security budget. The move stems from recommendations that came out of the library’s Safety and Security Project, a staff-led effort that stretches back about five years.

The library currently runs The Source program, a “one-stop-shop” for unhoused Angelenos to get help with Medi-Cal enrollment, employment assistance, mental health and other services. But that program is only available once a month at the Central Library, and Pickard-Four would like to see a more consistent presence with social service providers.

The contracts will be open to both larger organizations and first-time city contractors. The library’s Business and Economics Department will host three information sessions for first-time city contractors.

Pickard-Four noted that libraries in San Francisco, Denver and Philadelphia have led similar efforts.

“What we envision is helping people in crisis just like we help everyone else,” Pickard-Four said. “And in order to do that we need to bring in resources from the outside.”

Support for LAist comes from

At LAist, we believe in journalism without censorship and the right of a free press to speak truth to those in power. Our hard-hitting watchdog reporting on local government, climate, and the ongoing housing and homelessness crisis is trustworthy, independent and freely accessible to everyone thanks to the support of readers like you.

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.

Thank you for your generous support and belief in the value of independent news.

Chip in now to fund your local journalism
A row of graphics payment types: Visa, MasterCard, Apple Pay and PayPal, and  below a lock with Secure Payment text to the right
(
LAist
)

Trending on LAist