Mental health problems can affect anyone, regardless of their age, gender, culture or economic status. The team at Pacific Clinics in Los Angeles has been making positive changes and saving lives for over 150 years. Learn more at i-los-angeles.
Pacific Clinics is one of the oldest mental health centers in California. The team prioritizes assessing the efficiency of recovery programs and constantly looks for strategies to improve medical plans. Pacific Clinics provides mental health support, physical health support services, drug intervention and auxiliary services. Find out how to balance work and personal life here.
Approach to treatment by clinic specialists
The specialist approach involves using a variety of methods supported by evidence and research to guarantee that each client gets the help they deserve. The team offers a range of services, including early intervention to prevent problems, assistance with drug abuse and treatment of serious mental health struggles.
Experts have found that treatment works best when they let clients and partners take charge of their own recovery journey. Additionally, doctors involve family, friends, community and other support networks to foster a spirit of cooperation and teamwork.
Clinic services
The center helps people with mental and substance use disorders and provides effective care to stabilize clients in critical condition.
Doctors provide the following services:
- primary health care screening and health risk monitoring
- screening, assessment and diagnosis
- psychiatric rehabilitation services
- mental health crisis services
- outpatient treatment of mental health and drug addiction
- community support networks
- intensive-care medicine for veterans and military personnel.
Many services are offered free of charge to clients, regardless of their ability to pay, so everyone has access to medical care. Trained, licensed and empathetic consultants can assist you in picking the right treatments at Pacific Clinics that meet your urgent needs. The team can explain all the processes and schedule an appointment.
Additional services at Pacific Clinics include:
- mental illness treatment, including consultation, evidence-based treatment, medication intake, peer support, support groups, case management and more.
- substance use disorder treatment, including through dual diagnosis services.
- employment services for qualified clients.
- Head Start and Early Head Start programs, which provide preschool education.
- human-centered, comprehensive care to treat physical, mental health or drug use disorders.
Physicians at Pacific Clinics provide assistance to individuals of all ages and at different stages of life. After all, they understand that a certain age group requires its own support groups. Children receive completely different mental health care than adults.
The goal of the center is to support as many people as possible. To achieve this, they offer services that meet cultural and linguistic requirements for diverse and underprivileged populations. Programs supporting this initiative include:
- Asian Pacific Family Center primarily serves Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
- Latino Youth Program is focused on suicide prevention.
- Hye-Wrap Program mainly supports the Armenian and Latino communities.
The center’s social contribution to city development
Pacific Clinics opened a duplex for professional parents. Professional parents are resourceful parents who help children and adolescents with higher behavioral health needs. Such parents find a permanent placement for kids and teenagers who may be struggling in certain areas while providing direct and individualized services for each child.
These buildings serve as short-term shelters and treatment facilities for youngsters in foster care who require the support of their certified professional parents. This accommodation is given free for professional parents who may be struggling to find a place to take care of a high-risk child or adolescent. Resources and support are provided if they live close to the offices.
One side of the building was named Burnside after a Pacific Clinics employee and advocate for foster families who unexpectedly passed away in February 2023.
The Swenson development team, together with the service department of Pacific Clinics, renovated and transformed a single-family house into a duplex to address the pressing need for professional parent homes.
Internship for future doctors
Pacific Clinics offers internships for postgraduate students studying psychology, social work and marriage and family therapy.
Doctoral Psychology Internship Program prepares interns to provide psychiatric help at the community level to clients of all ages. Candidates pursuing a Ph.D or Psy.D program, which is accredited by the American Psychological Association, can apply for this internship program.
The well-regarded social work internship program collaborates with universities throughout California to provide residency for Master of Social Work and Bachelor of Social Work interns. This program includes:
- A friendly learning environment that teaches interns how to interact with different clients
- Intensive training focused on interaction with a client, considering cultural nuances, diagnosis, substance abuse and behavioral health treatment
- Mentorship from an experienced team that strives to develop each candidate
- Career prospects within Pacific Clinics, including clinical and senior positions.
As part of the program for psychiatrists, candidates are trained in different places. This program involves various platforms within Pacific Clinics. Upon its completion, a PT license is granted. Candidates work under the guidance of experienced behavioral health experts and gain direct experience in crisis intervention.
Marriage and Family Therapy Trainee Program (MFT) cooperates with universities throughout California to provide practice opportunities that meet the requirements of the Board of Behavioral Sciences and universities.
The MFT Trainee Practicum program provides the following opportunities:
- Gaining direct customer service experience that will improve your clinical and professional skills
- Intensive and structured learning aimed at helping clinicians in public psychiatric facilities and beyond
- A nurturing learning environment where you can get expertise in assessment, diagnostics, outcome measuring, assessment tools, risk assessment and much more
- Weekly supervision for both individuals and groups
- Besides practice, career advancement opportunities.
In collaboration with Azusa Pacific University and other universities in California, Pacific Clinics offers comprehensive programs for psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners. These programs aim to develop strategies for providing psychiatric care by recruiting, training and educating the state mental health system personnel.