Accreditations & Awards

Didi Hirsch has pioneered many innovations in mental health and substance use:

• Established first nonprofit mental health clinic in Los Angeles in 1942
• One of the first agencies in the nation to receive federal designation as a Community Mental Health Center
• Developed a crisis-oriented, solution-focused, brief treatment program that emphasized building on strengths, treating as many people as possible and reaching neglected groups such as the elderly and ethnic communities.
• Had the first non-hospital based clinic in the Western United States to provide walk-in services.
• Opened the first residential center for women struggling with substance use, where mothers could remain with their children while in treatment. (1971)
• Since Project 50 started in 2007, we have provided substance use disorder services to the most vulnerable individuals brought from the streets of Skid Row into supportive housing.

Didi Hirsch has received significant recognition over the years for its services to children and youth:

• Awarded and implemented a multi-year Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration grant-funded program to help military families and children adjust to veterans’ deployments and returns
• Earned 5 awards from First 5 L.A., the Los Angeles Department of Mental Health and the University of California, Davis jointly for our exceptional work and outcomes with Parent-Child Interaction Therapy
• Maintains one of the oldest American Psychological Association-accredited doctoral internship programs in the nation (since 1956), providing specialized training in therapeutic work with children
• Member of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN), a national resource funded through the Center for Mental Health Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and Department of Health and Human Services to improve access to care, treatment, and services to traumatized children and adolescents exposed to traumatic events
• First mental health partner in the Los Angeles Child Abduction Task Force (established 1992) and continues to assist abducted youth in reuniting with their families after being recovered

In addition, the Suicide Prevention Center has received the following recognition:

• Norman Farberow—renowned psychologist, one of the founding fathers of suicidology, and one of the three founders of the Suicide Prevention Center—was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Council on Community Behavioral Health
• Recognized at the 6th Annual International Conference on Suicide Prevention in Mexico City (1971) for its groundbreaking efforts in suicide prevention research, education and service
• Our Suicide Response Team partnered with the Los Angeles Mayor’s Crisis Response Team to provide immediate support at the scenes of suicides
• Created a support group curriculum for survivors of suicide attempts that has been accepted by a national registry and ordered over 1,000 times by mental health professionals in all 50 states and 30 nations
• Didi Hirsch Suicide Prevention Center volunteers, Sam and Lois Bloom, were awarded the Eli Lilly National Council of Behavioral Health’s Volunteers of the Year Award for their suicide prevention advocacy at the local, state and national level. They helped develop bereavement support groups for people affected by suicide after their son, Sammy, took his life at the age of 23
• On its 50th anniversary, we were recognized nationally by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration with an award for our pioneering work in the area of suicide prevention hotline services
• Chosen by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration as one of three Disaster Distress Helpline centers in the country
• Didi Hirsch Suicide Prevention Center volunteer, Ester Ybarra Bryant, a mother who previously lost her 13 year old son to suicide, was awarded Woman of the Year by Congresswoman Grace Napolitano for her dedicated suicide prevention and bereavement support work with children and families
• Didi Hirsch led a collaboration of suicide prevention centers throughout California to establish common metrics for crisis line data