1963
|
The county Mental Health Association starts a program in which mental health professionals, nurses, and other volunteers answer calls at home from depressed and suicidal people. |
| 1969 |
Board members are recruited, incorporation papers are filed, office space is rented, a staff person is hired, and the Crisis Center is born. |
| 1973 |
We implement our face-to-face grief counseling program. Today it’s one of the largest bereavement services in California. |
| 1976 |
We begin answering all after-hours child abuse calls to Children's Protective Services. Also, Leftovers Thrift Shop, a Crisis Center auxiliary, is founded. |
| 1979 |
The county Mental Health Department begins contracting with us to provide 24-hour crisis intervention services. Also, we start a jail counseling program to help inmates deal with incarceration. Despite notable results, the program ends a year later when funding expires. |
| 1983 |
We begin providing face-to-face counseling and referral services to unemployed workers. The program operates successfully for four years, until government budget cuts cause funding to end. |
| 1989 |
We purchase, remodel, and move into our current office space in Walnut Creek. |
| 1993 |
Our 24-hour crisis lines are certified by the American Association of Suicidology. |
| 1996 |
We begin answering the county's 24-hour homeless hotline. |
| 1997 |
We begin publishing a phone book-size directory of local health and social services. Also, crisis line volunteers receive Diablo Magazine’s “Threads of Hope” award. |
| 1999 |
We begin answering all after-hours elder abuse calls to Adult Protective Services. We also begin accepting calls to a new national suicide hotline (800-SUICIDE). In addition, grief counseling volunteers receive the “Threads of Hope” award from Diablo Magazine. |
| 2000 |
We purchase 4,000 square feet of additional office space, doubling our facility. |
| 2001 |
We launch an annual fundraising gala that today raises more than $200,000 per year. |
| 2002 |
The Contra Costa County Office of Education contracts with us to start operating a 24-hour school violence tipline. Unfortunately, funding ends a year later due to state budget cuts. |
| 2004 |
Our application is approved to provide 211 phone service in Contra Costa County. |
| 2005 |
Long-time Crisis Center volunteer Jim Hernandez is nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Also, a second national suicide is launched (800-273-TALK) with all local calls again routed to us. |
| 2007 |
We publicly launch 211. We also co-sponsor the first suicide prevention conference in Contra Costa County; today it’s the largest local mental health conference of the year. |
| 2008 |
We’re one of six crisis centers in the U.S. to be awarded three-year grants from SAMHSA to make follow-up calls to hotline clients (with their consent) who are suicidal. |
| 2009 |
We’re awarded Mental Health Services Act funding to expand the multilingual and multicultural capacity of our crisis lines. |
| 2010 |
Six large health care providers collaborate on a project to promote 211 in eastern Contra Costa to people who are newly uninsured. Also, we start three new on-campus support groups for high-risk teenage girls, making a total of four altogether. |
