Countywide : Mental Health Assn. Conference Begins
Dozens of mental health professionals will converge today for Orange County’s first Awareness Conference, scheduled to coincide with national observances of May as Mental Health Month.
Sponsored by the nonprofit Mental Health Assn. of Orange County, the event will be from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Doubletree Hotel Orange County in Orange. It will include about 30 exhibits from Orange County health care providers and a tour of UC Irvine’s new neuropsychiatric building.
The Mental Health Assn., established in 1957, offers support and educational programs for the mentally ill at centers in Garden Grove and Costa Mesa.
The organization is private but gets more than half of its $1-million annual budget from the county, said its president, Eugen Andres.
Amid the budget crunch caused by the county’s Dec. 6 bankruptcy filing, conferences like today’s can provide a valuable forum for discussing ways to operate more efficiently, Andres said.
“We shouldn’t be duplicating services,” he said. “We have to combine our resources and programs to better serve those in need.”
The Doubletree Hotel Orange County is at 100 The City Drive. Information: (714) 547-7559.
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