Last week the Board of Supervisors approved Janice Hahn’s motion with Supervisor Holly Mitchell to assign mental health teams to the 10 highest need libraries in the county.
LA librarians do incredible work, but they are not trained to address complex social or behavioral issues – nor should they be. Bringing social workers into some of the county libraries can better help people who are struggling, and librarians can focus on their jobs.
With this motion, each supervisorial district will have one mental health clinician and one medical case worker that will split their time between at least two libraries in the district – and the Department of Mental Health has already identified positions they can use to make these teams at no extra cost to the county.
Speaking of our libraries… Do you know how many services you can get from your local LA County library? It’s a lot more than just borrowing books.
With a library card, you can access free online tutoring for students in grades K-12. You can also get lessons in 22 languages, or take English lessons for speakers of 15 different languages. The LA County library system also has free citizenship resources, and you can get free access to museums around LA—and those are just a few of the benefits.
Details: Sign up for a library card at: https://tinyurl.com/Sign-up-for-a-library-card