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A New Home for CHC Ravenswood
CHC’s Ravenswood Clinic Moves to a Larger and More Central Location in East Palo Alto
On March 21, a gathering of CHC’s partnering organizations, supporters, and friends celebrated a much-anticipated milestone for the agency – a new home for its CHC Ravenswood services. Attendees at the event toured the new space, which houses individual therapy rooms artfully designed with families and children in mind. Conveniently located in the Ravenswood Shopping Center, the new location at 1765 East Bayshore Road in East Palo Alto, is an inviting space, making clients feel welcome, comfortable and safe.
The Ravenswood Initiative was established by CHC in 2014 to provide free community-based mental health and learning support to schools and organizations serving youth in East Palo Alto and east Menlo Park. Through strong local partnerships built over the past several years, CHC developed this program, further underscoring its mission – to remove barriers to care like stigma, language and cost. Now, with the help of generous donors and foundation partners, CHC Ravenswood is positioned to provide more free support to schools, organizations and families.
At the event, CHC Ravenswood’s Mental Health Services Coordinator Divier Wallace proudly announced, “It’s a beautiful day because all of us are making history today. We are making history for having a place where kids and their families can reach out for emotional support, case management and outpatient therapy services that are being done by people and professionals who look like them, share their language and understand their culture and values.”
Ravenswood City School District Superintendent and CHC Board Member Gina Sudaria echoed the same sentiment, “this new space represents hope for the entire community.”
Divier Wallace, CHC Ravenswood’s Mental Health Services Coordinator
“...kids and their families can reach out for services that are being done by people and professionals who look like them, share their language and understand their culture and values.”
—Divier Wallace, CHC Ravenswood Mental Health Services Coordinator
Divier was joined by other therapists, clinical staff and practicum students from the CHC Ravenswood team, including Danna Torres, LMFT, and Cynthia Martinez, MA and Ravenswood Program Coordinator Zahra Murtaza, PhD, who spoke about how much this work meant to her, having grown up around the area:
“I grew up in the Bay Area in an immigrant Pakistani family. I have always had a passion for social justice and reducing health inequities. Over half of our providers are bilingual and provide therapy in English and Spanish. It is more urgent than ever to provide quality mental health care that is accessible, especially to communities such as East Palo Alto and East Menlo Park, that have been historically under-resourced.”
Zahra Murtaza, PhD, Ravenswood Program Coordinator
“It is more urgent than ever to provide quality mental health care that is accessible, especially to communities such as East Palo Alto and East Menlo Park, that have been historically under-resourced.”
—Zahra Murtaza, PhD, Ravenswood Program Coordinator
To close out the event, CHC Chief Clinical Officer, Dr. Ramsey Khasho, expressed his gratitude to supporters and partners, “Our vision has always been based in equitable access to care. We are so grateful to our partners who have made that possible.” He also shared that with the new space, there is now the possibility of expanding additional services in Ravenswood and mentioned examples such as comprehensive evaluations for children and teens, group therapy to help young people build coping skills, psychiatry services, peer-to-peer support and more trained providers to meet growing demand.
CHC Ravenswood is solely funded through philanthropy. Thank you to the generous CHC Ravenswood donors for making this program and this new expanded space possible. Special thanks to the many foundation partners who attended the open house, including friends from Sand Hill Foundation, Palo Alto Community Fund, Anne Wojcicki Foundation and Sobrato Family Foundation.
If you would like to learn more about CHC Ravenswood, please contact advancement@chconline.org or (650) 617-3825.
