A clinic that provides mental health services to Los Angeles-area veterans, active duty service members and their families, has officially opened its doors in Torrance.
The 7,000 square-foot facility boasts 13 clinical offices, a community room, two family rooms and a large waiting area. It’s currently run by a 10-member staff that includes five clinicians, a psychiatrist and a case manager. The clinic offers both in-person and telehealth services, the latter of which is accessible by veterans statewide.
Torrance Mayor George Chen and representatives from the local chamber of commerce were among those who attended the Thursday, March 9, grand opening.
The Torrance facility is the 23rd to open nationwide as part of a chain of mental health clinics for veterans and their families that’s backed by a $275 million grant provided by Steve Cohen, a hedge fund billionaire and philanthropist who also owns the New York Mets.
The Steven A. Cohen Military Family Clinic, 20800 Madrona Ave., Suite C-100, marks the third such facility in California. The first clinic opened in San Diego in 2019, followed by another in Oceanside last year.
Dr. Anthony Hassan, president and CEO of Cohen Veterans Network, noted that veterans often have trouble getting timely treatment.
“Somebody asked me yesterday, ‘What keeps me up at night?’” Hassan said. “What keeps me up is that when we have people who finally ask for help and then they call and they’re told, ‘I can’t see you for six months, I can’t see you for four months.’
“Granted, we’re not perfect,” he added, “but we can see you a lot sooner than that.”
There are roughly 18 million veterans and 2.1 million active-duty and reserve service members nationwide, according to the U.S. census. And since 9/11, there have been 2.8 million active-duty American military personnel deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and beyond, leading to increasing numbers of combat veterans among the population.
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