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By Joe Simitian, Santa Clara County Supervisor
Today’s young people are adaptable, socially conscious, and more open to talking about mental health. They’re also burned out, lonely, and struggling. Given academic pressures, social media use, climate anxiety, and economic uncertainty, we can hardly be surprised.
In the wake of the tragic suicide clusters in Palo Alto, I worked with Dr. Steven Adelsheim, a psychiatrist and clinical professor at Stanford, to bring his vision for an integrated physical and mental health care center for local youth (called allcove) to northern Santa Clara County. I championed the program in 2016 first, including it in our County budget that year.
Our efforts led to the opening of allcove Palo Alto, and to recent expansions in San Mateo County. My hope is that every community will one day have an allcove center of its own.
The beauty of allcove is that it’s designed to engage young people who are struggling long before they hit a crisis point. Anyone between the ages of 12 and 25 can walk into an allcove center and access mental health support, primary care, substance use addiction services, and peer support.
I want our youth to feel comfortable and safe when accessing these services. At allcove, they don’t need a prior diagnosis or referral. The majority of services provided at allcove centers are free, and young people can rest assured that their visits are confidential.
At allcove Palo Alto, young people can schedule sessions with a licensed therapist or attend one-on-one or group peer support with allcove staff. Struggling students and young professionals can receive help with college applications or polishing their resumes. Services are available in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Tagalog. Bored adolescents can paint, study, snack, and make use of the center’s popular karaoke machine.
Leanne, a former Youth Advisory Group (YAG) member at allcove Palo Alto, succinctly summarized the range of services available to young people: “allcove helps young people advocate for their needs.”
Young people helped create the allcove centers – from the look and feel, to the options for activities. Even the name, allcove, was chosen by the YAG to represent the vision that every young person belongs, and chooses the support they need, all in a safe and comforting environment.
As allcove celebrated its third birthday this summer, I thought about Leanne, who started at allcove as a client before she became a YAG member. “I want people to experience the epiphany I went through when I started at allcove,” she said. “It changed me a lot.”
Allcove Palo Alto will host a health fair on Sept. 6, from 4 to 6 p.m. at its center, located at 2741 Middlefield Road, Suite 102. The event is free and open to all.
I’m hoping young people looking for support as they head back to school will stop by allcove and connect with peers and allcove center staff. Allcove Palo Alto is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian represents the Fifth District which includes Cupertino, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Saratoga, Stanford, portions of San Jose and unincorporated communities in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
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Thank you for your pure intention and hard efforts to help others. May they be of great benefit to all. When one suffers, we all suffer.
He’s Our Joe! Decades of public service that instead of ‘being served By the public’ was helping serve the needs Of the public. Some of us will really miss Both Joes.