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Resources

If you or someone you know is experiencing a suicidal or mental health crisis...

Help is available... Find easy access to mental health and suicide prevention resources by using the links provided here. If you or someone you care about is experiencing a suicidal or mental health crisis, please call or text 988 the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Trained and experienced counselors are available 7 days a week, 24 hours a day to provide support, referrals, and crisis intervention. Callers don't have to be suicidal to contact Lifeline. You can also call or text this number if you are concerned about someone, just need to talk, have questions about how to offer support, or if you are looking for information about community resources, mental health referrals, and alcohol and drug support services. The network is available to anyone who needs emotional support, is concerned about a loved one, and/or is in a substance use crisis. If emergency medical care is needed, call 9-1-1 or go to the emergency room of the nearest hospital.

San Diego Access and Crisis Line:
Phone: (888) 724-7240
Hours of Operation: 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week.
The San Diego Access and Crisis Line provides information and referral to County Drug and Alcohol treatment and recovery services for adults, adolescents, and pregnant and parenting women who are receiving Medi-Cal or who do not have health insurance. It also serves as a suicide prevention/intervention hotline. It provides mental health crisis intervention, information and referral to mental health services in San Diego County, including referrals to mental health care professionals who accept Medi-Cal and serve people who lack health insurance. Calls are FREE and answered by trained professionals. Service is available in multiple languages.
2-1-1 San Diego:
Phone: 2-1-1
This hotline connects people with community, health and disaster services through a free, 24/7 stigma-free phone service and searchable online database. 2-1-1 serves the entire population of San Diego County as the only free, confidential, dialing code service in San Diego.
NAMI San Diego:
Phone: (800) 523-5933 or (619) 543-1434
Hours of Operation: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. M-F. The National Alliance on Mental Illness in San Diego (NAMI San Diego) is the community’s voice on mental illness. At the heart of NAMI San Diego’s mission is the sharing of information and striving to end the stigma associated with mental illness. NAMI San Diego offers a Helpline, support groups, educational meetings, newsletters, a lending library and a number of classes on mental illness held at various locations throughout San Diego County.
- NAMI San Diego Helpline:
  Phone: (800) 523-5933 or (619) 543-1434
  Hours of Operation: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. M-F. County-wide, confidential, family and peer-staffed support phone line for individuals with mental illness and their loved ones. Provides non-crisis phone support and referrals and increases knowledge of mental illness, resources and related issues.
NAMI North Coastal:
Phone: (760) 722-3754
This organization supports communities in the north coastal region of San Diego County, from Del Mar to Oceanside and east to Vista and Rancho Santa Fe. Provides information, advocacy and support for people affected by serious mental illnesses. Offers educational meetings and support groups. NAMI CARE are peer-based support groups that occur each week; other support groups are open to all. Meetings are held on the third Thursday of the month, 8:30 a.m. – 10 p.m. at St. Michael’s By the Sea Church at 2775 Carlsbad Blvd, Carlsbad, CA.
- NAMI North Coastal Helpline:
  Phone: (760) 722-3754
  Hours of Operation: 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. M-F. Messages left on voicemail will be returned by trained volunteers that provide information, referrals and support to all who have questions about or are affected by serious mental illness.
Domestic Violence Hotline & Resources:
Phone: (888) DV-LINKS/ (888) 385-4657
This 24/7 countywide bilingual domestic violence hotline provides confidential support, safety planning and referrals. Call 2-1-1 for referrals to local domestic violence shelters.
San Diego Network of Care for Behavioral Health:
This website is a resource for individuals, families and agencies looking for mental health resources and information in San Diego County.
San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA)-Behavioral Health Services:
HHSA provides a broad range of health and social services promoting wellness, self-sufficiency and a better quality of life for all individuals and families in San Diego County. The Behavioral Health Division provides a continuum of services aimed at providing an array of mental health, alcohol and other drug services for children, youth, families, adults, older adults and improving the quality of life within our communities. The website provides an overview of services available to community members.
RI International – San Diego Chapter:
Phone: (858) 274-4650
RI International provides recovery-based services to adults with mental health and/or addiction challenges and offers free wellness and recovery classes to adults experiencing mental health challenges.
Mental Health America (MHA) San Diego:
Phone: (619) 543-0412
Mental Health America of San Diego County is dedicated to promoting mental health, preventing mental disorders and achieving victory over mental illnesses through advocacy, education, research and service. The website offers information about local resources, events and trainings, as well as information and treatment options about various mental health disorders organized by audience and issue. A “Self Help Directory” of more than 600 self-help groups, also known as “the little yellow book,” can be ordered through the website.
International Bipolar Foundation:
Phone: (858) 598-5967
Founded in 2007 by four parents with children affected by bipolar disorder, International Bipolar Foundation is a local non-profit organization, whose mission is to eliminate bipolar disorder through the advancement of research, to promote and enhance care and support services and to erase the associated stigma through public education.
The San Diego Regional Center:
Phone: (858) 576-2996
The San Diego Regional Center provides a variety of services to persons with developmental disabilities, their families, and the community, including assessments, individual and family service plans, and case management services.
The San Diego Postpartum Health Alliance:
Phone: (619) 254-0023
The San Diego Postpartum Health Alliance offers moms in crisis and their concerned friends or relatives support, information and referrals. The website also features a blog and information about upcoming events.
San Diego Psychiatric Society:
Phone: (858) 279-4586
The San Diego Psychiatric Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the highest quality of care for people with mental health disorders. This website offers a database of physicians that specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of mental, emotional and substance abuse disorders.
San Diego Psychological Association:
This website provides a comprehensive listing of mental health providers and resources for San Diego. Additionally, a service called Psychology 2000 offers free, short-term psychological services to people who can’t afford them and meet certain criteria.
Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA) San Diego:
DBSA is a peer-facilitated group of people who support one another on the road to wellness, including those diagnosed with mood disorders, their families, friends and anyone else who seeks to learn more about depressive and bipolar mood (affective) disorders.
Mental Health Systems:
Phone: (858) 573-2600
Mental Health Systems is a nonprofit agency founded in 1978 to improve the lives of individuals, families and communities facing substance abuse and behavioral health challenges.
Union of Pan Asian Communities (UPAC) in San Diego:
The Union of Pan Asian Communities (UPAC) is a nationally-recognized non-profit organization, offering multicultural, multilingual, comprehensive physical and mental health services to Asian, Pacific Islander and other ethnic communities.
- Mid-City Location: (619) 229-2999
- Serra Mesa Location: (858) 268-4933
- Child and Adolescent Mental Health: (619) 232-6454
Operation Samahan:
Phone: (619) 474-5567
This is a community health center that provides health and mental health services to low-income Filipinos/Asians and other low-income families and individuals in the County of San Diego, with locations in National City and Mira Mesa.
Kalusugan Community Services:
Phone: (619) 477-3392
This community-based health center provides health and mental health services, and social programs for the Filipino American community and others.
San Diego Family Care:
This organization is dedicated to providing culturally competent, affordable, fiscally responsible, accessible and high quality medical care, mental health care and multi-cultural health promotion, with a primary focus on central San Diego.
- Linda Vista Health Care Center (858) 279-0925
- Mid-City Community Clinic (619) 563-0250 (Adults)
- Mid-City Community Clinic (619) 280-2058 (Children)
La Maestra Community Health Centers:
Phone: (619) 280-4213
This organization provides quality health care to the ethnically diverse communities in San Diego.
The North County LGBTQ Resource Center
Phone: (760) 994-1690
The North County LGBTQ Resource Center is a nonprofit organization that serves the lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual, and questioning (LGBTQ) community of North County San Diego. Its mission is to foster and empower the North County LGBTQ community by providing a safe space, advancing awareness and visibility, and sustaining equality and inclusiveness. The Center is open to all and there are no fees associated with its services. For mental health a referral/inquire needs to be sent via email at info@ncresourcecenter.org

After a suicide...

Survivors of Suicide Loss (SOSL)
Phone: (619) 482-0297
SOSL provides self-help support groups for those who have lost a relative or friend through suicide. Support materials and a quarterly newsletter are available either electronically or in hard copy. A speaker’s bureau provides information on suicide issues and prevention of suicide.
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) – San Diego Chapter
Phone: 855-869-AFSP (2377)
The AFSP San Diego Chapter is dedicated to understanding and preventing suicide through research, education and advocacy, and to reaching out to people with mental disorders and those impacted by suicide. The Chapter offers educational programs for highs schools, colleges, professionals and community groups. The Chapter’s Survivor Outreach Program provides survivors and their families with support and reassurance that surviving a suicide loss is possible.
Conversations Matter
These tips from the Hunter Institute of Mental Health in Australia provide guidance for handling safe and effective conversations after a suicide death. They include basic tips on what to say and do for a person who lost someone close to them to suicide, as well as when you are worried someone you know may be thinking about suicide.
Speaking of Suicide
This website for suicidal individuals, their loved ones, loss survivors, and mental health professionals. It includes information on how to talk with children about the suicide, a comprehensive book list, and much more.
SOS: A handbook for survivors of suicide (PDF)
A pocket-sized quick reference booklet for suicide loss survivors from the American Association of Suicidology. The booklet may be downloaded freely or print copies can be purchased through the AAS website. Also available in Spanish.
Surviving a suicide loss: A financial guide (PDF)
In the aftermath of loss, it can be especially difficult to make sound financial decisions. This guide from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention describes how to take inventory, settle the estate, work with advisors and set a year of financial milestones.
Surviving after Suicide (PDF)
A survivor of suicide is a family member or friend of a person who died by suicide. This fact sheet describes the common emotions and feelings of grief experienced by survivors of suicide and offers resources through the American Association of Suicidology.

Additional Websites:

Clinician Survivor Task Force

Alliance of Hope

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

Friends for Survival

MIRECC Uniting for Postvention

SAVE

Sibling Survivors of Suicide Loss

Suicide: Finding Hope

"Walk Within You"

If I be the first of us to die,

Let grief not blacken long your sky.

Be bold yet modest in your grieving.

There is a change but not a leaving.

For just as death is part of life,

The dead live on forever in the living.

And all the gathered riches of our journey,

The moments shared, the mysteries explored,

The steady layering of intimacy stored,

The things that made us laugh or weep or sing,

The joy of sunlit snow or first unfurling of the spring,

The wordless language of look and touch,

The knowing,

Each giving and each taking,

These are not flowers that fade,

Nor trees that fall and crumble,

Nor are they stone,

For even stone cannot the wind and rain withstand

And mighty mountain peaks in time reduce to sand.

What we were, we are.

What we had, we have.

A conjoined past imperishably present.

So when you walk the woods where once we walked together

And scan in vain the dappled bank beside you for my shadow,

Or pause where we always did upon the hill to gaze across the land,

And spotting something, reach by habit for my hand,

And finding none, feel sorrow start to steal upon you,

Be still.

Clear your eyes.

Breathe.

Listen for my footfall in your heart.

I am not gone but merely walk within you.

Taken from The Smoke Jumper, reproduced with the kind permission of Nicholas Evans. From the documentary on Netflix, "Evelyn."

Resources by mental health condition...

Neuroatypical Conditions: ADHD, NLD & ASD

What is ADHD?

What is NLD?

What is ASD?

San Diego Based Educational Therapists:

Courtney Kelly Stiles

(Hillcrest, homevists)

412-849-7704

Julio Shullo, M.A.

San Diego Educational Therapy

(Hillcrest)

858-204-4009

Bonnie Weiss, M.Ed.

The Family Learning Center

(La Jolla)

858-454-7303

Michelle Schwarzmann, M.A.

858-750-0912

Patricia Padgett

Foundations for Learning & Reading

(Carlsbad)

760-434-7720

Hannah Obradovich

Ignite Learning Center

(La Jolla)

858-598-4682

Rachel Herman, M.A.

Learning for All

(Point Loma)

619-494-5161

Daisy Vaisgurg, M.A.

(Carmel Valley)

858-255-1099

Kelsey Gogarty, M.A.

Roots of Learning

650-759-0617

Meditation resources...

What is Mindfulness Meditation?

Mindfulness is the practice of gently focusing your awareness on the present moment over and over again.

It often involves focusing on sensations to root yourself in your body in the here and now. It can be practiced during formal meditation or during everyday activities, like cooking, cleaning, or walking.

On the other hand, a full mind means you’re not rooted in the present moment.

It’s the nature of the mind to think, analyze, and figure things out. That’s its job. That means that left to its own devices, the mind will constantly seek out new stimuli, new things to think about, and new ways to check out from reality.

Mindfulness practice is a way to gently retrain the mind to settle into the present moment. It’s kind of like becoming a parent to your mind rather than letting it control you.

In the end, the mind is simply a willful toddler.

By practicing mindfulness over and over with patience and compassion for yourself, you can teach the mind to be still.

Eventually, the mind may even dissolve altogether, meaning that there is no intellectual or conceptual overlay between you and what you’re experiencing.

Instead, you’re fully immersed in and at one with the present moment. This experience is what’s known as true presence.

Getting Started With Mindfulness

How to Meditate -NYT Article

Guided Audio & Video Meditations

UCSD Center for Mindfulness

Center for Mindful Self Compassion

Tara Brach

Mindful with Jon Kabat-Zinn

MINDFULNESS MEDITATION CENTERS

One way to deeply embody your meditation practice is to immerse yourself in a teacher-led silent meditation retreat of at least five nights with formal mindfulness meditation practices.

5-night predominantly silent meditation retreat, which is teacher-led, and primarily involves a variety of formal mindfulness practice (sitting, walking, yoga, etc). Retreats that are predominantly yoga-based or involve a great deal of other activity aside from formal mindfulness practice are not recommended initially.

To assist you on your journey, here is a compiled a list of meditation centers. This is not a comprehensive list nor an endorsement of these centers.

Atlanta Mindfulness Institute, Atlanta, GA
British Columbia Insight Meditation Society, British Columbia, Canada
Gaia House, Devon, UK
Gainesville Retreat Center, Gainesville, FL
Great Vow Zen Monastery, Clatskanie, OR
Insight Meditation Society, Barre, MA
Insight LA, Los Angeles and Southern California
Insight Meditation Center, Redwood City, CA
Insight Meditation Community, Washington, DC
Insight Meditation Community of New Haven, New Haven, CT
Madison Insight Meditation group, Madison, WI
Mid-America Dharma, Kansas City, MO
Mindfulness Northwest, Bellingham, WA
New York Insight Meditation Center, New York, NY
Seattle Insight meditation Society, Seattle, WA
Sky Meadow Retreat Center, Greensboro Bend, VT
Spirit Rock Meditation Center, Woodacre, CA
True North insight, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Vipassana Meditation Center (S.N. Goenka), USA & Internationally
Vipassana Metta on Maui, Maui

Zen Centers in North America

Crestone Mountain Zen Center, Crestone, CO
Minnesota Zen Center, Minneapolis, MN
New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care, New York, NY
Rochester Zen Center, Rochester, NY
San Francisco Zen Center, San Francisco, CA
Zen Life and Meditation Center, Chicago, IL

Tibetan Centers

There are Shambhala retreat centers around the world.
Karmê Chöling Retreat Center, Barnet, VT
Karma Triyana Dharmachakra, Woodstock, NY
Menla Mountain Retreat Center, Phoenicia, NY
Vajrapani Institute, Boulder Creek, CA

Other Centers

Copper Beech Institute, Hartford, CT
Mindful Way, Joshua Tree, CA
Mindfulness and More , Philadelphia, PA
Mindfulness Northwest, Bellingham, WA
Springwater Center, Springwater, NY
The Soul of Yoga, Encinitas/Oceanside, CA

Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we're supposed to be and embracing who we are. - Brene Brown

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If you or someone you know is experiencing a suicidal or mental health crisis...

After a suicide...

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