Sycamores Breaks Ground on New Children’s Crisis Programs in Altadena

Sycamores has begun renovation of two new mental health facilities dedicated to helping children in crisis.

The groundbreaking ceremony on May 16 at the organization’s El Nido campus in Altadena marked the start of construction for a Children’s Crisis Stabilization Unit and a Children’s Psychiatric Health Facility. These programs will provide a full continuum of urgent mental health services in a safe, age-appropriate environment, addressing a long-standing gap in care for youth experiencing mental health crises.

“This groundbreaking represents a powerful commitment to children and families in our community,” said Debra Manners, President and CEO of Sycamores. “Too many young people in crisis don’t get the help they need — or get it in the wrong place, like an emergency room. These new programs will offer the right care at the right time in the right setting. We are deeply grateful to our partners at the County and State levels for making this vision a reality.”

The project responds to a critical shortage of youth mental health resources in the region. Los Angeles County, with nearly 10 million residents, currently has very few Crisis Stabilization Units specifically dedicated to children or adolescents. Since 1995, California has lost more than 3,200 psychiatric beds, making access to appropriate care increasingly difficult.

Funding for the initiative comes partly through California’s Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program. The integrated design of the programs will allow for continuity of care for youth requiring extended support.

The ceremony attracted several prominent officials, including State Senator Sasha Renee Perez, Assemblymember John Harabedian, Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chair Kathryn Barger, and Rimmi Hundal, Chief Deputy Director of LA County Department of Mental Health.

“L.A. County is in desperate need of these types of beds and this type of support,” said Supervisor Kathryn Barger. “I am so grateful to Sycamores for accepting the call to help youth stabilize and more importantly, heal. You are a valuable partner!”

Department of Health Care Services Director Michelle Baass emphasized the broader impact of such facilities. “We’re working to ensure foster youth with significant mental health needs are supported with the services they need. Organizations like Sycamores are essential to transforming how we respond to urgent behavioral health challenges. By bringing compassionate, community-based care directly to children and youth in need, they exemplify a behavioral health system that meets people where they are with dignity, support, and hope.”

Sycamores is a leading behavioral health and child welfare agency serving over 25,000 vulnerable individuals throughout Southern California annually. For more than 120 years, the organization has provided comprehensive services with an unconditional, whatever-it-takes approach. Their programs cover the full spectrum, from prevention and early intervention to intensive programs, delivered at one of their 9 locations of care, in the community, or on school campuses.

The organization’s services include residential treatment, transitional living assistance for young adults currently or at risk of experiencing homelessness, outpatient and school-based mental health services, mobile crisis outreach, wraparound/in-home services, psychiatric services, psychological testing, and educational support services. Sycamores is licensed by the Community Care Licensing Division of the California Department of Social Services, certified by the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health, LAHSA funded and accredited through The Joint Commission.

For more information about Sycamores and its programs, visit www.sycamores.org.