Local News in Brief : Grant to Help Mentally Ill

The Robert Johnson Wood Foundation will give the Senior Health and Peer Counseling Center of Santa Monica a $450,000 grant to provide services to chronically mentally ill residents on the Westside.

The Chicago foundation will donate the money over a three-year period, enabling the center to accommodate an extra 150 elderly people each year, said project director Dr. Marla Hassinger.

Some of the services will include assessment and treatment, peer counseling, health education, volunteer activities and case management. “These programs will be filling a gap,” Hassinger said. “Because most programs are geared to higher-functioning people, this will accommodate those with severe longstanding mental problems.”