East Contra Costa County residents now have expanded access to free and low-cost counseling and mental health services, thanks to an initiative aimed at low-income residents.
The East Contra Costa Mental Health Initiative is a partnership of John F. Kennedy University and the John Muir/Mt. Diablo Community Health Fund. Before it was launched in 2015, free and low-cost counseling and mental health services were in short supply in East County, according to Lillian Roselin, executive director of the Community Health Fund.
“Nationally and locally there are a dearth of free or low-cost mental health services for medically uninsured, underinsured, underserved, and vulnerable populations,” she said. “Bottom line, there was a need for more free or low-cost counseling and mental health services in East Contra Costa County.”
Those findings were included in two community health assessments conducted in 2013 that helped launch the initiative, which is funded by Community Health Fund grant money. To date, $207,000 has been spent on the initiative.
It is estimated that as many as 45,000 residents living in East County could have some form of mental illness, according to the Community Health Fund. To that end, the initiative has expanded mental health services provided to the region by JFKU’s Community Counseling Centers.
Nine JFKU students are currently involved with the initiative, providing counseling services at Los Medanos College in Pittsburg and Brentwood. Student and family counseling services are offered at Hillview Middle School and Highland Elementary School in Pittsburg and Deer Valley High School, Antioch High School and Dozier-Libbey Medical High School in Antioch. Services are also offered to seniors through a partnership with Meals on Wheels and Senior Outreach Services.
JFKU students, who work under the supervision of licensed university mental health professionals, receive credit for counseling hours that are applied to graduation requirements.
“JFK University has a strong service-learning commitment, which means these students are not just in the classroom but also in the community,” said Gail Kinsley-Dame, executive director of the Community Counseling Centers. “These students are just hungry, they have been sitting in the classroom and they are really eager to apply” what they have learned.
The centers were first launched in Concord, Oakland and Sunnyvale 40 years ago. The expansion to East County will make it easier for local residents to obtain mental health services, she said.
“In the East Contra Costa region, there are tremendous geographical challenges. Imagine a young mom with a couple of children who wants to come to therapy having to hop on a bus, get over to the Concord center, be seen for 50 minutes, turn around and get back on that bus,” she said.
Janet Garcia, a 26-year-old Antioch resident pursuing a master’s degree in counseling psychology at JFKU, works with students at the Los Medanos campus in Pittsburg, a school she previously attended. The response from students has been positive since the program was launched last year, she said.
“A lot of students said they have been asking and waiting for a program like this. They felt they really needed it, to look at different aspects of their lives to be able to get through school with all the pressure that comes with being in school,” Garcia said.
Moving from instruction in the classroom to a real-life counseling experience is very helpful, she said. “It’s so different from when you read about something to when you actually go out in the world and apply it. It’s a whole different concept because you are working with actual people who have reactions,” Garcia said. “For me in particular, I’ve always wanted to work in my community. This really gives you a chance to see what people need and what I can do for them.”
For information about the initiative’s program offerings in East County, call 925-798-9240.
