For 80 years, Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services has been a national leader in whole-person mental health and crisis care. While not every suicide or attempt can be prevented, most people thinking about suicide have a treatable mental illness and show signs of distress. You can save lives by learning the warning signs and risk factors and knowing how to help if you or someone you know is thinking about suicide.
To learn about warning signs, risk factors, and how to help, click here.
If you or someone you know is in a suicidal crisis, call our National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255
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To amplify our movement, Didi Hirsch’s Mental Health Is Health Campaign invites you to Activate, Advocate and Donate
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This week's theme: Crisis Care Continuum |
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Suicide Prevention
Didi Hirsch’s Suicide Prevention Center was founded in 1958. It’s the nation’s first and the only one that provides comprehensive services to people affected by suicide. We offer several types of suicide prevention training, and provide therapy and support groups for anyone who has thought about, attempted, or lost someone to suicide.
Our services include:
- Crisis Counselors connecting high-risk callers and those recently discharged from local hospitals after a suicide attempt to Didi Hirsch follow-up services.
- 24/7 primary coverage for Southern California and back-up coverage for the state and National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and Crisis Chat networks.
Bilingual capabilities:
- We are one of three centers in the nation with 24/7 Spanish language services.
- We provide Korean-language crisis services during peak evening hours, 7 days a week.
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- In July 2020, Didi Hirsch joined a Lifeline text pilot, a service that has since been expanded nationwide.
- Provide back-up for Teen Line, taking calls during the 20 hours a day they are not operating.
- Operate a dedicated hotline for LA Unified School District employees and their families.
- Have a 24/7 ‘HEARME’ text option for the deaf and hard-of-hearing.
- Deliver support groups for survivors of suicide attempts (SOSA) and those who lost a loved one to suicide. Additionally, SOSA facilitators have been trained across the US and the curriculum has been shared in every state and in 38 countries.
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The alarming statistics of the suicide crisis in the U.S. requires all of us to help spread the word. You can be the key to someone in crisis.
- More than 5.58 million Americans (1 out of every 59 individuals) are survivors of suicide loss.
- People suffering from bipolar disorder or schizophrenia are 13-15 times more likely to die by suicide.
- 25 – 40% of all mentally ill Americans will be jailed or incarcerated at some point in their lives.
- The LA County jail system holds more than 5,000 inmates with a mental illness. The County jail psychiatric unit has become the nation’s largest inpatient health facility treating the mentally ill.
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Criminal Justice Diversion |
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In July of 2021, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) increased their one-year pilot with Didi Hirsch from an eight-hour per day operation to an around-the-clock service. View coverage here.
Didi Hirsch:
- Trains 9-1-1 operators, LAPD’s Mental Evaluation Unit, SWAT negotiators and provide the suicide intervention component of various crisis intervention training programs, including the FBI’s Crisis Negotiation Unit Academy.
- Accepts 9-1-1 calls from LAPD related to non-violent mental health crises.
- Partnered with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, including in the Mayor’s Challenge on Veteran Suicide Prevention and LA County’s Alternatives to Crisis Response.
- Successfully answered 1,794 calls related to non-violent mental health crises in our first year of diverting calls from LAPD 9-1-1, 82 percent of which were de-escalated without a higher level of service deployed.
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Therapy and support groups are available for people who have attempted suicide, lost a loved one to suicide, caregivers, and frontline workers or first responders that have burned out and need support with trauma.
Our licensed clinicians provide short-term individual and family therapy to help people cope with loss, enhance their resilience and develop strategies to keep themselves safe.
Specialized support groups are available in Los Angeles, Orange, and Ventura Counties and via telehealth for all California residents.
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There are times when we can feel overwhelmed and need reminders on how to cope and tools to incorporate in our daily routine to stay resilient.
Here are some mental health strategies for youth, college students, parents and educators - click here.
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We are halfway through the month. Consider donating today. Funds provide direct services to youth, individuals and families in crisis that need support.
Join us to help save lives.
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Be the change you want to see. Advocating for policies influences elected officials to fund and allocate resources for program development and expand service availability to our most vulnerable communities.
Upcoming in June, bill AB 1394 (Universal Suicide Screening) is going before the California Assembly. It would require hospitals that provide 24-hour inpatient care to adopt universal suicide screening policies by January 1, 2025. For more information on the bill, click here.
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- We are continuing to see robust news coverage surrounding our Mental Health Is Health Proclamation and Honoree Jhené Aiko. A feature story appeared in top entertainment outlet Revolt TV. Read it here.
- Popular foodie blog Eat Drink LA covered our promotion with SUR and amplified the charitable giveback. See it here - the story was also syndicated through MSN and Newsbreak!
- MTV Teams Up with White House on Mental Health. Selena Gomez and Didi Hirsch’s Youth Ambassador Adia Fadai were in attendance in Washington D.C. See here for a quick glimpse.
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Ignite the #mentalhealthishealth social movement. |
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Ask a Therapist ft. Yolanda Jauregui, Ed.D, MMFT, PPS
Didi Hirsch will activate one to two influencer therapists to answer questions from the Didi Hirsch Instagram account once a week. See more
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5/22 Instagram Live with Bubble & Didi Hirsch
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5/29 Instagram Live with Self Care is for Everyone and Sarah Gilman
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This week as we focus on crisis care and suicide prevention, we encourage you to share these stats to spread awareness: |
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Mental Health is Health Month continues! Together we can make a difference to help get people the care they need. Please share our campaign, our tool kit is available here.
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Next week's theme: Whole Person Care
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If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, has attempted
or suffered a loss, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
at 800-273-8255.
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