Long Beach just became home to the new Long Beach Trauma Recovery Center (LBTRC), which opened last week on the campus of Dignity Health St. Mary Medical Center (DHSMM) and is only one of two such facilities in the entire state.
A partnership between Long Beach State (CSULB) and DHSMM, the mission of the new center is simple: to provide anyone age 12-year-old or older free mental health care following an experience of trauma or being a victim of a crime. The need for such services are understated since the rarity of such centers—with the only other one being in San Francisco—is due to the fact that they need to offer low-cost or no cost services to assist everyone, but also require specialized training of clinicians and staff members.
This marks another move forward for Long Beach mental health services, since the LBTRC’s opening follows the recent $1M grant given to The Children’s Clinic that will go towards launching a program to identify and address the effects of stress and violence on infants, toddlers and pregnant mothers.
“Ideally these types of centers should include a multidisciplinary team which includes academia, peace officers, community and government agencies,” said Dr. Bita Ghafoori, Director of the LBTRC. “The primary goal of the LBTRC project is to create a comprehensive model of trauma and mental health care for victims of crime and their families while removing barriers to care for underserved victims of crime.”
That model includes a group of community professionals, behavioral scientists and clinicians that will pair with the St. Mary’s Medical Center, The LGBTQ Center, the Long Beach Police Department, CSULB, and social service agencies to study the best practices for intervening violence. Additionally, victims who visit the LBTRC will not only be educated, but have access to a vast amount of services:
- mental health services to victims of crime and their families;
- social services and medical patient navigation to victims of crime;
- comprehensive community outreach utilizing the expertise of established community based organizations; clinical case management;
- assistance with crime victim compensation documentation;
- and coordination of care between professionals serving victims of crime.
While other hospitals were considered, St. Mary’s was chosen due to its high crime within the area. It is expected that some 300 individuals will receive intensive care and education from the new center in its first year.
CSULB is the entity financing the project through a $534,579 award from the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims; additionally, a $40K award was given to St. Mary’s by the California Endowment to establish the physical space of the center.
Even more, the LBTRC will benefit graduate students interested in pursuing careers in the area of study.
“CSULB graduate students studying Marriage and Family Therapy and Social Work students will complete their internships at the LBTRC,” Ghafoori said. “The LBTRC will serve as a training facility for the students pursuing careers in mental health.”
The new center is located at 1045 Atlantic Avenue, Suite 801. It is open Monday through Friday from 8AM to 5PM.
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