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Health Apr 01, 2024
Mental health care professionals celebrate the opening of a new county facility in Palmdale for children and young adults up to age 21. | Photo courtesy of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health
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The Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health on Monday opened the Antelope Valley’s first county-operated, youth-focused mental health program in Palmdale.
The Antelope Valley Child and Adolescent Program is located at 2323 E. Palmdale Blvd., Suite A, and serves young people from infants up to age 21, according to a county statement. The program provides kids and family members “with client-centered and trauma-informed mental health services.”
Program participants receive individual, group and family therapy; “crisis evaluation and intervention; case management and community linkage; medication evaluation and support; and psychological testing,” according to the county.
“Expanding our well-being resources and programs in the Antelope Valley allows us to continue our mission of bringing hope and healing to our youngest residents and their families,” Mental Health Department Director Lisa H. Wong said in a statement. “We look forward to enhancing our services and supporting the needs of those who call Palmdale and the surrounding communities home.”
Mental Health Department officials hosted a grand opening event Monday for the new facility that featured a tour and remarks from Theion Perkins, the department’s senior deputy director for outpatient care services, Anders Corey, health deputy for 5th District LA County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, and program leadership.
“Today’s event was more than just opening the County’s first Antelope Valley clinic for children and adolescents, it was about welcoming the community through our doors and helping them become familiar with the critical care that LACDMH can provide to the region’s families,” James Coomes, who oversees the Mental Health Department’s Service Area 1 which includes the Antelope Valley, said in a statement. “Our Child and Adolescent Program is dedicated to providing a broad range of quality mental health services and specialty care services for eating disorders, complex trauma, family conflict, and more.”
The Child and Adolescent program is driven by 30 trained providers of mental health care. Their specialties include marriage and family therapy, clinical social work, psychology and psychiatry. Medical case workers and community health workers also give the program “additional support, community outreach, and service linkage,” according to the county.
The program operates from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, county officials said. The program center’s phone number is 661-223-3800.
