Community Partnerships

Community Partnerships

Crisis Support Services of Alameda County has been providing culturally competent mental health services for more than 40 years. Our expertise is in dealing with people in crisis and people suffering from chronic mental illness. CSS has the capacity to create and support “special projects” programming designed to meet unexpected and emergent needs in our community and across the state.

Our NightWatch ® program contracts after-hours crisis intervention telephone counseling services to mental health agencies that are required to provide 24/7 services. The program serves public and private agencies throughout California. NightWatch is a fee-for-service program that is customized to meet the individual needs of the contracting agency.

Structure

Individual projects are structured to meet the unique needs of the contracting agency or the project’s collaborative partners and the dynamic populations they serve.

Whom We Serve

County Mental Heath Agencies throughout the state of California; Community-Based Mental Health Agencies providing services to their community; school districts; county, state and federally funded public benefit agencies, individual community members of all ages and backgrounds.

Contact Us

For information about our NightWatch ® program, please contact Crisis Line Director, Binh Au at (510)420-2474.

For information about our Stress Counseling Services and support for NUMMI Employees and Vendors, contact Clinical Director Devah DeFusco at (510) 420-2475.

Dear Friends of Crisis Support Services,

Last year Nancy Salamy, our Executive Director (ED) for the last fifteen years, informed the Board that she would like to retire at the end of June, 2019. Although it was hard for us to imagine the agency without her strong leadership, this gave us plenty of time to prepare for an orderly transition. The Board set up a Transition and Search Committee in September and the careful, thoughtful transition process has begun. We have hired Leadership Search Partners, a Bay Area executive search firm for nonprofits, to help us find the best possible new leader.

Nancy spent much of her professional life with Crisis Support Services (CSS, formerly Suicide Prevention) of Alameda County, starting over 25 years ago as a volunteer on the crisis line. Over the years she became a licensed therapist, a paid staff person, and then the Director of the Community Education Program. When a former ED left in 2004, following a nationwide search, we promoted Nancy to become our new ED, perfectly embodying the deep values and mission of our organization. During her time of leadership Nancy deepened her management skills and used her business acumen and outgoing personality to build cohesion, expand services, grow our reputation, and triple our budget. Thanks to her leadership, CSS stands as a well-respected, solidly-funded service agency well positioned to manage this major change and move on to new challenges, just as Nancy herself must make personal adjustments as she moves on to a well-deserved retirement.

We are grateful to have had Nancy’s leadership for these many years, and we are planning various celebrations. Please stay tuned for future announcements. In the meantime please send your personal thanks to her at nsalamy@crisissupport.org.

You can help us fill this critical leadership position by spreading the word to qualified candidates to contact Leadership Search Partnership. A full job announcement with information about how to apply is available at
http://leadershipsearch.com/docs/CSSAC_ED_Position_Specification.pdf .

Many thanks for all your past and continuing support of CSS and our mission,

Susan Sniderman, M.D.

President, Board of Directors