Our mission is to keep people in Contra Costa County, California alive and safe, help them through crises, and connect them with culturally relevant resources in the community. We do this by operating five county-wide programs:

• 24-Hour Crisis Lines. We operate Contra Costa County’s suicide prevention hotline. Founded in 1963, it was one of the first of its kind in the U.S. All local calls to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (800.273.TALK and 800.SUICIDE) are routed here. Staffed by highly-trained volunteers, the line provides counseling, support, and resource information to people experiencing personal crises as well as those contemplating suicide. We also handle all night, weekend, and holiday child abuse calls to Children’s Protective Services and elder abuse calls to Adult Protective Services.

• Grief Counseling. Our grief counseling program is one of the oldest, largest, and most diverse bereavement services in California. Started in 1973, it provides individual and group counseling to youths and adults mourning the death of a loved one. Counseling is conducted by trained volunteers, many of whom once were grief clients. Support groups meet throughout the county for children who have lost family members and friends, parents who have lost children, survivors after suicide, families victimized by SIDS, and others. All counseling is free, and many volunteers speak Spanish. We also have a 24-hour grief line, as well as a special team that provides counseling at schools and businesses following the death of a student or adult.

• Homeless Services. Our 24-hour homeless hotline is the first point of contact in Contra Costa County’s continuum of care for the homeless. Through the hotline, individuals and families are referred to food, shelter, health care, job training, transportation, and other services. We also provide motel vouchers to homeless families, and we pay for free, personal voice mail boxes so that hundreds of homeless people have a way to communicate with employers, service providers, family members, and others.

• Youth Services. Our 24-hour youth crisis line is a safe place for students to call and report weapons on campus, another student’s homicidal or suicidal remarks, bullying, cutting, gang activity, and other dangerous behavior, which we then work to prevent. We also conduct classroom and community presentations on violence prevention, talking with students about pressures they face and how to deal with them effectively.

• 211 Information and Referral. 211 is the national, toll-free, three-digit phone number to call for help and information, and we’re the authorized 211 provider in Contra Costa County. Trained resource specialists answer calls from people in the community who need health and social services. Our 211 database has up-to-date information on 2,500 resources for local residents, and is accessible free of charge in 12 languages. We also publish regional guides, in English and Spanish, of essential services.

The Crisis Center is governed by a 10-member board of trustees. A staff of 24, assisted by 250 volunteers, provides life-affirming services 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Our operating budget is $1.7 million (84 percent for direct services and 16 percent for administration and fundraising). About 80 percent of our funding comes from private sources (individuals, businesses, foundations, civic clubs, religious groups, and proceeds from Leftovers Thrift Shop, an agency auxiliary). The remaining 20 percent comes from government contracts and grants. We own our 7,000 square-foot facility in Walnut Creek.

Statistics

To view monthly and year-to-date statistics on our 24-hour crisis lines and 211 information and referral lines, click here.

Board of Trustees

Officers

President: Shiva Berman, Ph.D.
Immunologist (retired), Northwestern Medical Center

Vice President: Pete Caldwell, LMFT
Mental Health Director, We Care Services for Children

Treasurer: Stephen Cairns, Vice President and Controller
PG & E Corporation

At Large

Laura Hulburd, R.N.
Intensive Care and Pediatric Nurse (retired)

David Munson, Senior Vice President (retired)
Bank of Hawaii

Patty Owens
Project Manager (retired), Pacific Bell (now AT&T)

Alice Villanueva, Senior Vice President
John Muir Health

Fred Winslow, Senior Director (retired)
Sun Microsystems

Newsletter

Our printed newsletter, “24-7,” is published quarterly. To view the current issue, click here.

Our email newsletter, “The Candle,” is distributed monthly. To view the current issue, click here.

We issue a comprehensive annual report with detailed program information, thorough revenue and expense reports, as well as a celebration of donor and volunteer milestones. To view the current report, click here.

Strategic Plan

To view the executive summary of our current strategic plan, click here.