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La Concordia Multicultural Wellness Center
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, from April 2020 through February 2023, as the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged the physical well-being of adults throughout the world, more than one-third of American adults reported symptoms of anxiety and/or depressive disorder. Those numbers were likely worse for low-income and BIPOC individuals.
La Concordia Wellness Center (LCWC) opened its doors at the beginning of the pandemic and quickly fashioned itself as an effective a response to this mental health pandemic. An emerging organization, LCWC is dedicated to meeting the wellness and mental health needs of Contra Costa’s low income, underserved BIPOC residents. The Center provides psychotherapy to its clients, while incorporating diverse cultural traditions that range from art, music and spoken word through shamanistic or curanderismo practices and other forms of alternative healing. Few if any other psychotherapeutic services integrate these alternative practices into traditional psychotherapy. LCWC is demonstrating that doing so can significantly expand access to mental health services, given the stigma associated with these conditions.
The Community Health Fund recognized that LCWC could not only provide those critical services, but also do so in ways that align with the CHF’s equity commitment and in collaboration with other CHF grantees with strong community ties. Consequently, in December 2023, the CHF provided a $30,000 executive director discretionary grant that helped LCWC work with La Piana Consulting to develop a business plan that describes the organization’s medium-term aspirations and near-term (2025) priorities, while also creating a funding structure aimed at long term sustainability.
With that plan in hand, LCWC has now secured significant funding to expand its operation in sustainable ways, including a $150,000 grant from the CHF in July 2024 for Phase I implementation for the opening of the LCWC’s Multicultural Wellness Center. Over the next year, LCWC will continue to hire staff and expand its programming, with a focus on outreach and developing new partnerships with other community-based organizations.