2016 – Celebrating 50th years of affordable mental health counseling

This year marks our 50^th anniversary celebration – and what a year it will be! As we begin this year, we are grateful to those who paved the way and made it possible for us to be here today.

SCCC has been meeting the mental health needs of the diverse communities of Los Angeles since 1966. Founded by psychiatrist Dr. Benjamin Weininger and psychologist Hans Hoffman, we remain dedicated to the belief that all people, regardless of income, must have access to quality mental health services. The Center was established with a model that supported the belief that carefully trained and supervised paraprofessionals could provide affordable counseling on a sliding scale to virtually anyone who walks through the door. We help individuals and families develop the resources they need to lead safer, healthier, more productive lives. Services are provided in a respectful, confidential environment with fees set according to each client’s ability to pay. Our mission is to change lives and strengthen communities by providing affordable mental health counseling to people in need.

The Center was established with a model based on the belief that carefully trained and supervised paraprofessionals could provide counseling to virtually anyone who walks through the door. Today we predominately train those on the licensure track (LMFT, LPCC, LCSW), though we still offer the unique opportunity for those who wish to train and volunteer as paraprofessional counselors. Over and above our highly sought after training program, what has sustained us over the years is our unique business model. We do not, and have never taken government funding, but instead are supported by foundation grants and generous individuals like you. This allows us to respond to the immediate needs of the community and create programs such as our Trauma & Resiliency Training & Services, and our newest, Psychiatric Services (created in the wake of closures due to funding cuts all over the city). It also allows us to join in partnerships with wonderful organizations, such as the Watts Labor Community Action Committee in South Los Angeles, where we now provide services 4 days a week.

In our early days, we had a unique auxiliary group that opened a thrift store in our honor and raised the funds necessary to ‘burn the mortgage,’ making it possible for us to survive the challenging economic conditions of recent years. Watch this video to learn a bit about The Friends of the Center and the work of those amazing women, to whom we are forever grateful.

Last but not least, we owe much of our sustainability to our volunteer counselors and supervisors, who today provide over $3 million in donated services annually. We simply cannot do what we do without our volunteers. Alumni supervisors come back year after year to volunteer and ‘pay it forward,’ continuing the tradition of excellence in training and service to our clients.

We hope you will celebrate our past and our future at one of our upcoming 50^th Anniversary events:

• Free film screening of Paper Tigers on Tues., Feb 2^nd – review the flyer below and RSVP today
• Save the Date for our 50^th Anniversary Celebration Gala on  Sat. April 30^th held at the Petersen Automotive Museum.

Thank you trailblazers of the past and visionaries of the future – cheers to you, and cheers to 50 more!