2-1-1 San Diego: See INFO LINE

A New PATH
PATH is a voluntary organization of concerned parents of individuals suffering from the DISEASE of addiction. Our PURPOSE is to partner with health care professionals, the criminal justice system, recovering addicts and concerned members of society to seek better understanding of the illness and "therapeutic justice" for substance abuse related crimes. Our GOAL is to reduce recidivism, save lives, heal families and move toward a healthier society.

Building Bridges Together
Our Mission is to provide a family voice at all levels, in a system of care that enables children and youth to remain at home, succeed in school, and avoid involvement with the juvenile justice system. Our goal is to provide information and engage in advocacy regarding prevention, early intervention, family support, education, transitional services, research, and other services needed by families.

California Legislative Information
This is the official site for California legislative information. This WWW site is maintained by the Legislative Counsel of California, pursuant to California law.

Center for Prevention and Early Intervention
The Center for Prevention and Early Intervention is recognized as California's premier source of training, technical assistance and resource development and provision supporting early intervention services for infants and toddlers with disabilities and at-risk conditions and their families.

Child and Adolescent Bipolar Foundation
The Child and Adolescent Bipolar Foundation educates families, professionals, and the public about pediatric bipolar disorder; connects families with resources and support; advocates for and empowers affected families; and supports research on pediatric bipolar disorder and its cure.

Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD)
CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) is the nation's leading non-profit organization serving individuals with AD/HD and their families. CHADD has over 16,000 members in 200 local chapters throughout the U.S. Chapters offer support for individuals, parents, teachers, professionals, and others. CHADD was founded in 1987 in response to the frustration and sense of isolation experienced by parents and their children with AD/HD. Countless individuals and families dealing with AD/HD turn to CHADD for information, public advocacy, and support.

Community Care Licensing Division -
California Department of Social Services
It is the mission of Community Care Licensing to promote the health, safety, and quality of life of each person in community care through the administration of an effective collaborative regulatory enforcement system. This is accomplished by: Promoting strategies to increase voluntary compliance; Providing technical assistance to and consulting with care providers; Working collaboratively with clients, their families, advocates, care providers, placement agencies, related programs and regulatory agencies, and others involved in communtiy care; Training staff in all aspects of the licensing process; Educating the public about CCLD and community care options; Promoting continuous improvement and efficiency throughout the community care licensing system. (7575 Metropolitan Drive, Suite 109, San Diego, CA 92108, (619) 767-2300)

Community Health Improvement Partners (CHIP)
The Community Health Improvement Partners (CHIP) is a collaboration of San Diego health care systems, hospitals, community clinics, insurers, physicians, universities, community benefit organizations and the County of San Diego who are dedicated to a common vision. Formed in 1995, CHIP is organized under the auspices of the Healthcare Association of San Diego and Imperial Counties.

Compeer San Diego
Battling mental illness through friendship. Our mission is to provide volunteer based one-to-one peer friendships to community members suffering from mental illnesses. Compeer San Diego will endeavor to provide a compilation of useful mental health information, and work together with like-minded organizations to further support the mental health community. Through Compeer friendships, community volunteerism and contributions, we will make a positive impact that will yield immeasurable gains toward helping individuals with a mental illness.

Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA)
The Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA) is the nation's leading patient-directed organization focusing on the most prevalent mental illnesses - depression and bipolar disorder. The organization fosters an understanding about the impact and management of these life-threatening illnesses by providing up-to-date, scientifically-based tools and information written in language the general public can understand. DBSA supports research to promote more timely diagnosis, develop more effective and tolerable treatments and discover a cure. The organization works to ensure that people living with mood disorders are treated equitably.

Disability Benefits 101
Disability Benefits 101 (DB101) helps workers, job seekers, and service providers understand the connections between work and benefits. DB101 brings together rules for health coverage, benefit, and employment programs that people with disabilities use. These programs may be administered by the state, the federal government, or private organizations; here, we discuss them under one roof, in plain language.

Evidence-Based Treatment for Children and Adolescents
The purpose of this site is to inform the general public as well as practitioners regarding the most up-to-date information about mental health practice for children and adolescents. While there are many approaches for treating various psychological disorders, the treatments listed here have been evaluated scientifically for efficacy and will be updated as new treatment research is completed.

Exceptional Family Resource Center (EFRC)
The Exceptional Family Resource Center provides support, information and education for families of children with disabilities and the professionals who assist these families. By offering emotional support and factual information, the Center enables families to help their children reach their fullest potential.

Exceptional Parent Magazine
Exceptional Parent's on-line resource. Continuing 35 award-winning years of providing information, support, ideas, encouragement and outreach for parents and families of children with disabilities, and the professionals who work with them.

Geriatric Mental Health Foundation (GMHF)
The Geriatric Mental Health Foundation was established by the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry to raise awareness of psychiatric and mental health disorders affecting the elderly, eliminate the stigma of mental illness and treatment, promote healthy aging strategies, and increase access to quality mental health care for the elderly. Explore our site for mental health information for older adults and their families, to find a geriatric psychiatrist, for news of Foundation programs and events, and much more.

iGive.com
...up to 30% of each purchase you make goes to your favorite worthy cause? Your shopping at hundreds of online stores helps a cause close to your heart with each purchase! It's all free & private. Join today and change online shopping for good.

INFO LINE, Inform San Diego, and 2-1-1 San Diego

INFO LINE of San Diego County
(Use INFO LINE's Web Site for a direct link to the Mental Health Board & Care Vacancy List) INFO LINE of San Diego County connects people in need with services that can help. We maintain a database of more than 2,750 health and human service programs in San Diego. Search our database online. Use INFO LINE's various printed materials, such as our 470-page guide to health and human services called Directions and various brochures. INFO LINE's online services are free and confidential, and bilingual information is available for Spanish speakers.

2-1-1 San Diego
2-1-1 San Diego is operated by INFO LINE of San Diego County, which has provided the region with phone, print, and then internet-based health and human service information and referral for more than thirty years. The launch of 2-1-1 service opens a new chapter in the agency's history. The mission of 2-1-1 San Diego is to optimize the effectiveness of this community's resources by sustaining a web of connections to meet needs and contribute to positive social change.

It's Up To Us
The It's Up to Us campaign is designed to empower San Diegans to talk openly about mental illness, recognize symptoms, utilize local resources and seek help. One in four adult San Diegans suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder and nearly one out of every five children experience some degree of an emotional or behavioral difficulty. Mental health challenges are just as important to address as physical illness. But often, people do not seek professional care and seek support, nor give support, because of the stigma that is associated with having a mental illness.

This campaign is developed through the County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency, and funded by the County of San Diego Mental Health Services Act.

JustGive.org
JustGive is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to connect people with the charities and causes they care about and to increase overall giving. As the central gateway to giving, we provide people with the resources, services, and tools they need to give -- whether it's their money, their time, or their goods.

KQED Public Broadcasting
Hope on the Street - California Mental Health Roadmap
Looking for the right mental health services for yourself or someone in need often begins by entering a confusing maze of choices. This Roadmap provides practical information that will help you find services whether you have private health insurance or you enter into the public health system, specifically, California's 59 county mental health system. This Roadmap also offers helpful tips for managing an emergency or crisis situation, understanding mental illness and mental wellness, and finding services and support for clients in need.

Learning Disabilities Association of San Diego
LDA San Diego is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for all individuals with learning disabilities and their families, alleviating the restricting effects of learning disabilities, and supporting endeavors to determine the causes of learning disabilities. LDA San Diego seeks to accomplish this through advocacy, education, research, service and through collaborative efforts.

Medi-Cal Web Site
The Medi-Cal web site is designed to provide a forum for public viewing and downloading of Medi-Cal program information and publications. In addition, Medi-Cal Providers also have access to a secure transaction services platform that includes eligibility, share-of-cost, various data uploads, and other services soon to include claims processing.

Medicare.gov
The Official U.S. Government Site for People with Medicare.

Mental Health Association in San Diego County
Inspired by the courage of our national organization, the Mental Health Association in San Diego County was founded in 1942 as the first mental health advocacy organization in San Diego County. MHA brings together client, families, professionals, providers, community leaders and the public to collaborate, cooperate and ensure available, affordable care to all citizens. Over the years, MHA has offered numerous programs and services focused on the following four areas: Advocacy, Education, Services and Research.

Mental Health Ministries
Our mission is to educate faith leaders and lay persons for the purpose of decreasing the stigma associated with mental illnesses in our faith communities. Providing resources to faith communities to develop a mental health program appropriate to each congregation is the important first step in the inclusion and support of persons with mental illnesses and their families into the life of that community. Our mission is to give voice to those who have suffered in silence and to enable faith communities to begin the process of reaching out and providing compassionate care to those affected by disorders of the brain.

Mental Health Part D
Mental Health Groups Launch a Web Site Dedicated to Medicare's New Prescription Drug Benefit. Leading mental health organizations have joined together to create a central resource on Medicare's new prescription drug benefit. The new website contains easy-to-understand, top-line information tailored specifically to psychiatrists and other physicians, providers at community health centers, and consumers and their families.

National Mental Health Consumers' Self-Help Clearinghouse
The National Mental Health Consumers' Self-Help Clearinghouse, is a consumer-run national technical assistance center serving the mental health consumer movement. We help connect individuals to self-help and advocacy resources, and we offer expertise to self-help groups and other peer-run services for mental health consumers.

NICHCY - National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities
NICHCY is the center that provides information to the nation on: disabilities in children and youth; programs and services for infants, children, and youth with disabilities; IDEA, the nation's special education law; No Child Left Behind, the nation's general education law; and research-based information on effective practices for children with disabilities. Anyone can use our services-families, educators, administrators, journalists, students. Our special focus is children and youth (birth to age 22).

Network of Care
(A comprehensive Web site for mental health resources in San Diego) This Web site is a resource for individuals, families and agencies concerned with mental health. It provides information about mental health services, laws, and related news, as well as communication tools and other features. Regardless of where you begin your search for assistance with mental health issues, the Network of Care helps you find what you need - it helps ensure that there is "No Wrong Door" for those who need services. This Web site can greatly assist in our efforts to protect our greatest human asset - our beautiful minds.

ParentsMedGuide.org
You may be aware of the recent decision by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to attach a cautionary label, or "black box warning," to all antidepressant medications used to treat depression and other disorders in children and adolescents. The American Psychiatric Association and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry have prepared Guides to help patients, families, and physicians make informed decisions about obtaining and administering the most appropriate care for a child with depression. These Guides have been endorsed by many national medical, family and patient advocacy organizations.

Partnership for Prescription Assistance
The Partnership for Prescription Assistance brings together America's pharmaceutical companies, doctors, other health care providers, patient advocacy organizations and community groups to help qualifying patients who lack prescription coverage get the medicines they need through the public or private program that's right for them. Many will get them free or nearly free. Its mission is to increase awareness of patient assistance programs and boost enrollment of those who are eligible.

President's New Freedom Commission On Mental Health
President George W. Bush established the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health in April 2002 as part of his commitment to eliminate inequality for Americans with disabilities. The President directed the Commission to identify policies that could be implemented by Federal, State and local governments to maximize the utility of existing resources, improve coordination of treatments and services, and promote successful community integration for adults with a serious mental illness and children with a serious emotional disturbance.

Protection & Advocacy, Inc. (PAI)

Protection & Advocacy, Inc. - Home Page
"Advancing the human and legal rights of persons with disabilities." PAI works in partnership with people with disabilities — to protect, advocate for, and advance their human, legal and service rights. We strive toward a society that values all people and supports their rights to dignity, freedom, choice, and quality of life.

Protection & Advocacy, Inc. - Publication List
(Includes numerous publications ranging from the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to Advanced Health Care Directives to Your Rights in Residential Care Facilities, etc.) PAI translates many of their publications into other languages. You can download or print out most of PAI's publications. There are also links to sources for non-PAI publications. Check back often for NEW and UPDATED materials, new links.

San Bernardino Sun -
Lost Among Us: How Society Fails the Mentally Ill
Congratulations to NAMI California for its work with the San Bernadino Sun on this special series. "We've put men on the moon and full-length movies on shiny little disks, but when it comes to care for the mentally ill, we are still in the Dark Ages. In California, we thought we were entering a period of enlightenment in the late 1960s when we emptied the mental hospitals...."

San Diego County Sheriff's Department

San Diego County Sheriff's Department
Office Locations
San Diego County Sheriff's Department office locations and phone numbers, detention facilities, law enforcement field locations, Court Service Bureau locations, units and divisions at Sheriff's Headquarters, Sheriff's Crime Laboratory and other facillities and divisions.

San Diego County Sheriff's Department
Public Information Plan (836 KB)
A handbook for families and friends of San Diego County Jail inmates. Having a friend or family member booked into jail can create confusion and uncertainty, both for the inmate and the loved ones involved. You may have questions about mail, phone calls, visiting, health care, and more. You may find it difficult to contact the person who was arrested for some time after booking, and the nature of the jail system may make it difficult for you to acquire the information you need concerning the arrest.

San Diego Park and Recreation
Therapeutic Recreation Services
Therapeutic Recreation Services is a program of the City of San Diego Park & Recreation Department that serves over 50,000 participants each year. The goal of the program is to provide year round recreational experiences for individuals with disabilities.

San Diego Psychiatric Society
The San Diego Psychiatric Society is a local medical specialty society. It is the district branch of the American Psychiatric Association and the California Psychiatric Association. The physician members specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of mental and emotional disorders and substance abuse. The San Diego Psychiatric Society's organizational objectives include the advancement and improvement of care for persons with mental illness through public information, education, and awareness programs and material.

Social Security Online

Social Security Online - Home Page
The Official Web site of the Social Security Administration. See if you qualify for Social Security benefits, apply for disability or retirement benefits online, request your earnings record, get a new or replacement Social Security Card and much more. The Social Security Administration's Mission is to promote the economic security of the nation's people through compassionate and vigilant leadership in shaping and managing America's Social Security programs.

Social Security Online - The Work Site -
Employment Support for People with Disabilities
This is the Web site for the Office of Employment Support Programs (OESP) and for The Work Site. Since the establishment of our office in 1999 and The Work Site in 2000, our goal has been, and will continue to be, to provide a focus within the Social Security Administration on matters affecting the employment of Social Security beneficiaries with disabilities.

Social Security Online - The Work Site -
Questions and Answers on Extended Medicare Coverage for Working People with Disabilities
On October 1, 2000, a new law extended Medicare coverage for an additional 4 1/2 years beyond the current limit. This law is for people who receive Social Security disability benefits and who go to work.

Special Needs Trust Foundation - San Diego
The Special Needs Trust Foundation was developed to assist families establish special needs trusts for their loved ones with disabilities.

(TARA) Treatment and Research Advancements -
National Association for Personality Disorder
The Treatment and Research Advancements Association for Personality Disorder, TARA APD, is a 501 C3 not-for-profit organization whose mission is to foster education and research in the field of personality disorder, specifically but not exclusively Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD); to support research into the causes, psychobiology and treatment of personality disorders; to support and encourage educational programs and endeavors targeting mental health professionals, consumers of mental health services, families and/or the community at large in order to reduce stigma and increase awareness of personality disorder, to disseminate available information on etiology and treatment and to lawfully advocate for accomplishments of these goals.

Team of Advocates for Special Kids (TASK)
Team of Advocates for Special Kids (TASK) is a Parent Training and Information Center that Parents & Professionals can turn to for assistance in seeking and obtaining needed early intervention, educational, medical or therapeutic support service for children. TASK's mission is to enable children with disabilities to reach their maximum potential by providing them, their families and the professionals who serve them, with training, support, information, resources and referrals, and by providing community awareness programs.

United Advocates for Children of California (UACC)
UACC is a nonprofit advocacy organization. We work on behalf of children and youth with serious emotional disturbances and their families. UACC is a family organization. This means the majority of our board and staff are parents of youth who have received services for mental health. This Web site is designed to provide education, information, and support to caregivers of children and youth with emotional disturbances.

United States Department of Health and Human Services
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)

SAMHSA's - National Mental Health Information Center
Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS)
Home Page
(e.g., Coping with todays issues for individuals and their families.) CMHS leads Federal efforts to treat mental illnesses by promoting mental health and by preventing the development or worsening of mental illness when possible. Congress created CMHS to bring new hope to adults who have serious mental illnesses and to children with serious emotional disorders.

SAMHSA's - National Mental Health Information Center
Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS)
Consumer/Survivor Mental Health Information
SAMHSA's Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) supports the meaningful participation of mental health consumers/survivors in all aspects of the mental health system including the planning, design, implementation, policy formulation and evaluation of mental health services.

SAMHSA's - Substance Abuse Treatment Facility Locator
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is pleased to provide this on-line resource for locating drug and alcohol abuse treatment programs.

Yellow Ribbon Suicide Prevention Program
"The Yellow Ribbon Suicide Prevention Program as a valuable and timely contribution to the fight against youth suicide. Young people are our most valuable asset. A Yellow Ribbon Card, in itself is a simple and inexpensive thing. This program can help to restore in individuals the feeling that they are valued"