History & Awards
Timeline
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.
1969
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.
1976
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.
1983
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.
1993
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.
1997
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.
2000
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.
2002
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.
2005
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.
2008
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.
2010
2011
We launched a successful 1st walkathon “Help, Hope, Walk” attracting 150 participants of all ages and raising $30,000. We were also named one of the winners of Thomson Reuter’s 2011 Community Champion Awards – nominated by, one of our deeply committed volunteer grief counselors.
2012
We become one of six national lines invited to manage the overflow calls for the National Vet Admin. We launched our online crisis chat program.
2012
2013
As the co-chair of the county-wide Suicide Prevention Committee, we launch the Contra Costa County Suicide Prevention Strategic Plan.
All full-time call specialists achieve AIRS Certification (Alliance of Information & Referral Services).
2014
Expand Linea de Crisis – the Bay Area Spanish language crisis line to 8 hours per day.
We complete a remodel of our call center to another section of the building, adding modern furniture and equipment upgrades.
We retire our mortgage with help from Leftovers Thrift Shop and The Joseph & Vera Long Foundation.
Reaccredited for five years by the American Association of Suicidology.
Completed our VA contract.
Launched the Help Me Grow project with Frist5 Contra Costa and partners.
2014
2015
Replaced emergency generator that supports the Crisis Center’s work and enables continuous access to our resource database by the entire county.
2016
The Crisis Center becomes the new home for two Volunteer Center of the East Bay projects- Corporate Caring Volunteer Week and Share the Spirit nonprofit grant making.
2016