Pasadena Police and LA Mental Health Department Team Up for Wednesday Suicide Prevention Walk, Dove Release

The Pasadena Police Department and the Los Angeles Department of Mental Health will host a rembrance walk to raise awareness about suicide prevention on Wednesday, Sept. 13.

The second Annual Walk in Remembrance, held at Pasadena’s Rose Bowl Stadium, will feature a 5K walk and a dove release ceremony. The event is part of Suicide Prevention Month and aims to provide resources and support for those affected by suicide.

Pasadena’s Homeless Outreach Psychiatric Evaluation (HOPE) Team was organized as an innovative approach to tackling mental health issues and preventing suicides in the community. Being able to respond to a wide range of calls for assistance, the HOPE Team uses a blend of outreach, psychological evaluation, and teamwork that has proven essential in ensuring the well-being of individuals facing crises.

“We basically respond to whoever calls and wants us to come out and help,” Officer Eduardo Acosta, a member of the HOPE Team, said. “We do get people who call, for instance, when people are on the Colorado Bridge, we’ll come out if they’re over the railing or over the gate, we’ll try and talk them back over and do whatever we can to make sure that they’re good.” 

The team works well with other organizations, including Huntington Hospital and the Los Angeles County Department of Health, who assigns a clinician to be with the team when it does its rounds through Pasadena. 

“People call law enforcement to try and help out. I think they came up with the idea of, ‘well, let’s have a clinician right along with them so that they can do the assessments,’” Acosta said. “But we also are trained in the academy. We get further training when we are hired after the academy strictly for mental health. It is important.” 

Pasadena’s Walk in Remembrance on Sept. 13 is one of the collaborative efforts between the Police Department’s Patrol Division and the LA County Mental Health Department to address mental health crises in the community.

For community participants, Lot H at the Rose Bowl opens at 7 a.m. on Wednesday for check-in. Resource tables manned by Pasadena Police Department personnel and other organizations will be in the area. 

To register for the free walk, visit www.eventbrite.com/e/walk-in-remembrance-tickets-686827659017?aff=oddtdtcreator.  

To find out how else you can be involved, email Officer Acosta at eacosta@cityofpasadena.net. 

To support with the purchase of a t-shirt, visit www.betterunite.com/PasadenaPoliceFoundation-walkinremembrance. 

Help is available all the time:
National Suicide Hotline (988 Lifeline): Dial 988 for 24/7 support
Didi Hirsch 24-hour Crisis Line: 1-877-727-4747 (en Español: 1-800-628-9454) 
LGBTQ – The Trevor Lifeline: 1-866-488-7386
Trans Crisis Line (Trans Lifeline): 1-877-565-8860
Crisis Text Line: Text HELLO to 741-741