In 2024, Pacific Clinics reached an agreement with the Community Health Awareness Council (CHAC) to ensure the continuity of services in North Santa Clara County. As part of that agreement, Pacific Clinics wishes to preserve CHAC’s history. Below is a summary.
It was the early 1970s, and families and community leaders in Mountain View, Los Altos, and Los Altos Hills were alarmed. They were seeing an increase in drug and alcohol use among adolescents, and at the time, the police acknowledged they were poorly trained to handle the issue and deal with potential mental health challenges. A solution was needed – and in stepped Dolores “Dodie” Alexander.
A mother of five whose husband was the head of the El Camino Hospital emergency department, Dodie led the creation of the Community Health Awareness Council (CHAC). CHAC initially focused on the prevention and intervention of youth drug and alcohol abuse. Established as a Joint Powers Authority including the cities and their school districts, CHAC provided counseling and educational programs in the schools.
Though Dodie was initially reluctant to lead the organization, CHAC’s first board of directors eventually convinced her that she possessed the right leadership skills to grow the organization and increase its impact. She would serve as executive director from 1973, when a team of just three served 200, until 1992. During her tenure, CHAC moved into a second, larger home, where it expanded its services and service hours and began offering support groups for both parents and young people recovering from drug abuse, as well as additional therapies for children and youth.
For her leadership and commitment to the community, Dodie won numerous awards and honors, including the Community Service Award from the Los Altos-Los Altos Hills Joint Community Volunteers Service Awards in 1993, and in 1997, was named among the 50 residents of Los Altos “who made a difference” by the local Town Crier newspaper.
In 1990, CHAC hired its first clinical psychologist, who further expanded educational programs while supervising interns. This paved the way for CHAC’s innovative doctoral and masters-level training programs.
Over the following decades, with a growing emphasis on community well-being, CHAC steadily transformed into a comprehensive mental health services provider addressing the social, emotional and mental health issues that impact students’ learning and success. In addition to its school-based counseling services, it added Family Resource Centers in collaboration with First 5 Santa Clara County to support healthy early childhood development, social-emotional growth, and social-emotional learning programs for middle school students. With support from school district partners and public and private donors, CHAC offered its programs at no cost to students and families.
In September 2013, CHAC crossed another significant milestone, moving again into a larger headquarters to meet its incredible growth in clients – more than 500% – over the previous decade. Its new facility added more counseling offices and a more extensive training room for interns.
For the next 10 years, including through the COVID pandemic, CHAC continued to provide its high-quality services, eventually providing mental health counseling services to more than 12,000 students and adults annually while serving another 6,500 at its Family Resource Centers. Services at CHAC’s offices were always provided on a sliding scale to ensure affordability.
Reflecting its commitment to “changing lives together,” CHAC’s mission was “to improve lives and strengthen communities through access to comprehensive and culturally responsive mental health services in northern Santa Clara County.”
In 2024, to guarantee its communities would continue to receive high-quality support and assistance, CHAC reached an agreement with Pacific Clinics, California’s leading provider of community-based mental health and substance use services with over 150 years of service. This agreement transitioned CHAC’s building and service area to Pacific Clinics, providing continuity to the community, offering social services, substance use treatment and wellness programs for people of all ages.
SOURCES:
https://www.mv-voice.com/news/2019/04/17/dodie-alexander-co-founder-of-chac-dies-at-88/
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5556581fe4b0849a8890c3ec/t/65f895aa97bc677dfc8ea403/1710790062009/2022-23+CHAC+Annual+Report.pdf
