Contra Costa Crisis Center: Spanish-Speaking Grief Support Initiative
The death of a loved one is almost always a painful experience, one in which many of us lean on friends and loved ones. In particularly difficult times, we might also turn to trained grief counselors or other professionals to help us through the grieving process. Unfortunately, for Spanish-speaking individuals in Contra Costa County, such professionals are in short supply.
Thus, in December 2018, the CHF awarded the Contra Costa Crisis Center $135,133 to help the organization expand its four-decade-old grief support and suicide prevention program by adding a Spanish-speaking version. In August 2019, the organization received a no-cost timeline extension due to a delay in recruiting a Spanish-speaking program manager. Since then, the organization has:
- Hired and on-boarded a bilingual, Spanish-speaking Grief Program Manager.
- Modified and translated the Crisis Center’s grief group facilitation manual and related training materials into Spanish.
- Recruited and trained volunteer support group facilitators.
- Launched seven support groups, serving 46 clients, at the Crisis Center office, as well as at the Monument Crisis Center and Village Community Resource Center.
- Begun identifying sources for sustaining the program when CHF support concludes, including:
- Local, state, federal, and private foundation grants.
- County-based mental health and social services contracts.
- Board fundraising.
In July 2020, the CHF approved an additional $103,278 for a final year of support that will enable the Crisis Center to expand its services throughout all of Contra Costa County, increase the number of clients it serves to 66 in Central and East Contra Costa County, and expand into West Contra Costa County with potential additional support from the Richmond Community Foundation.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Crisis Center has pivoted to distance service delivery, primarily consisting of the program manager using Zoom, Microsoft Teams, the telephone and social media to:
- Provide one-on-one support to clients.
- Facilitate support groups.
- Continue outreach and coordination with partner agencies.
- Train Grief Group facilitators.
- Promote the program.
Expected outcomes in the final year include:
- Serving a minimum of 20 additional Central and East Contra Costa County clients by March 2021.
- Piloting a program that serves a minimum of 30 clients in West Contra Costa County by March 2021.
- Increasing community partnerships by a minimum of three agencies.
- Recruiting additional volunteer support group facilitators.
- Identifying additional sources of support for sustaining the program once support from the CHF concludes in June 2021.