Pilot program offers mental health services at Los Angeles Central Library

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The public library is intended to be a quiet, peaceful place for everyone to read, study or do research. But that open door policy can create uncomfortable encounters.

Especially in a downtown environment with a large homeless population.

"As a city we're dealing with this on a giant level, so this is not something that's surprising anyone," said Karen Pickard-Four, director of the Los Angeles Public Library Experience Office.

The Los Angeles City Council recently approved three new contracts for public libraries, with the goal of increasing professional help available while reducing calls to police.

The pilot project through "The Library Experience Office" is similar to what has been tried at libraries in San Francisco and Denver, intended to help library staff who often encounter people in a mental health crisis but aren't trained in that field.

This week, workers for the city of Los Angeles came out and cleared out a lot of the stuff at the San Vicente homeless encampment. But the homeless who were living there remain, and they say they do not always feel safe either.

"Sure they can give somebody a sheet of resources, but they can't do a warm hand-off they can't do any sort of, even light case management. They can't really help that person making that next step," Pickard-Four said.

Some help has been available through The Source at the Central Library.

The Source is a one-stop opportunity for those experiencing homelessness to get help with Medi-Cal enrollment, employment or mental health services. It's only available once a month. Now, social workers and mental health professionals will work directly with the library on a daily basis to help patrons with counseling or case management.

"Having a social worker on staff, having some of the other staff that are part of the solutions we're developing within the Library Experience Office will allow our staff to do what they do best and that's to serve Angelinos directly." said John Szabo, city librarian of the Los Angeles Public Library.

Szabo said if this pilot program is successful it's not going to just benefit people experiencing homelessness, it's going to benefit everyone who is using the public library.

"It is helping us create an environment that makes our library more welcoming, safer for absolutely everyone to use," Szabo told ABC7.

The first social workers were hired at the end of February at the Central Library, and the hope is they will soon be available at other branches where needed.