More Los Angeles County residents are experiencing symptoms of anxiety and depression. This comes as many are trying to put their lives back together after devastating fires destroyed at least 16,555 structures and damaged another 2,000, including many residential properties.

Also, family members who need to call for help for a loved one experiencing an acute mental health crisis would rather reach out to a mental health team than armed law enforcement.

But getting people in both situations a timely mental health counselor has been slow due to a lack of personnel to do the job, the county reported.

An incentives program that began in 2023 and offered signing bonuses, extra pay for night deployment and other retention methods has increased the number of mental health teams in the field from 33 to 71, reported county Supervisor Janice Hahn, who represents the 4th District. Also, response times dropped from six hours to about two hours.

“While that is a big improvement, that is still not good enough,” Hahn said.

Vacancies still plague the department. And incentives dollars used in the initial program are running out, leaving the county with the possibility of losing workers to higher-paying positions outside the county unless the program is revived.

“It is not the moment to decrease mental health care services,” said Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, who represents the Third District.

In an attempt to meet these diverse mental health needs, the county Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to continue incentives for hiring 40 more mental health workers within the county’s Department of Mental Health.

The motion, introduced by Hahn and approved 5-0, asks the department to find new funding sources and continue aggressive hiring with incentives, retention bonuses, partnerships with universities to bring in more workers, and methods to retain current employees.

Hahn’s goal is to hire more mental health workers, especially those on crisis field teams, so that response times can drop to about 30 minutes. She’s also asking the department to find quicker ways to dispatch teams to those in need.

“It is frustrating to call and hear it will take two hours,” Hahn said.

Sheila Carter, who spoke to the board on behalf of the National Alliance on Mental Illness’ Westside Los Angeles chapter, agreed that more workers are needed and that providing hiring and retention incentives are key.

“A two-hour wait times can feel like a lifetime when you have a loved one in crisis,” Carter said.

Following the Eaton fire, which destroyed 9,413 structures in Pasadena and Altadena, many are consumed by finding housing and filling out forms for recovery assistance. They haven’t had a moment to call for psychological help, said Connie Larson DeVaughn, lead pastor at Altadena Baptist Church, which was destroyed in the fire. Her house was spared.

“Mental health needs are pushed to the side,” she said Tuesday in an interview. “One person said I was in denial, that is how I am dealing with it.”

DeVaughn, who said the church now meets in an all-purpose room at the Highlands church in La Crescenta, said she tells church members that grief is a long process and encourages them to experience their feelings whenever they arise.

“While we in the faith community say bring it to God, I think the (county) resources are absolutely necessary. I wonder about how to get those resources to the people. That is the question,” she said.