Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a motion by Supervisor Kathryn Barger and coauthored by Supervisor Holly Mitchell that will allow the Department of Mental Health to accept a $2.9 million grant from the California Health Facilities Financing Authority to develop 12 Crisis Stabilization Unit beds for children at the Olive View-UCLA Medical Center and the Martin Luther King Jr. Child and Family Wellbeing Center. Each site will have six beds and will offer services to children ages three to 12 who are experiencing a mental health crisis or distress.

“I am grateful to our partners at the State for their support of these critical mental health services for children in Los Angeles County,” said Barger, whose 5th District includes the Santa Clarita Valley. “Vulnerable children and their families deserve quality care and accessible services to meet their needs, especially when they are experiencing a crisis. The stabilization beds created by this grant at the Olive View-UCLA Mental Health Urgent Care Center will help provide these important resources.”

The Crisis Stabilization Unit beds funded by this grant will be housed within the County’s current Restorative Care Villages sites, which will offer the County’s residents a full continuum of physical and behavioral health care in one location.

“These dollars will help us provide the full range of health and mental health services for vulnerable children of all ages at the MLK campus in the Child & Family Wellbeing Center,” shared Mitchell. “In a recent two year period in our County, our psychiatric mobile response teams responded to 5,000 crisis calls for children under the age of 12. Psychiatric crises are frightening for our children and their caregivers. The MLK and Olive View crisis stabilization units will help us lower the number of children needing psychiatric hospitalization and allow for them and their families to get the care they need in a more comforting and therapeutic environment.”

The two programs will offer 24/7 mental health assessment and crisis stabilization, therapeutic and mental health services, case management, family/caregiver support and education, and referrals to community-based services to meet the ongoing needs of children and their families.

The Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health expects the two new programs will serve an additional 4,380 children annually. Currently, the Olive View-UCLA Medical Center Restorative Care Village is in the final stages of completion, which will include 80 beds, a new mental health urgent care center and a mental health wellness center.

A copy of the motion approved today by the Board of Supervisors can be found [here].