The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is comprised of 722,000 students, many of whom are at increased risk for exposure to violence and other traumatic events due to increasing community violence and poverty. It is one of only two school districts in the country that has supported a child mental health service unit (since 1933) and district crisis intervention services for traumatized children (since 1984). A staff of 160 psychiatric clinical social workers, clinical psychologists, child psychiatrists, and community workers; 250 District crisis team members; and Early Behavior Intervention Counselors at 175 elementary and middle schools provide a range of professional mental health services for students who evidence social, emotional, behavioral and trauma related problems, which often inhibits their ability to learn. The mental health staff itself is culturally diverse with 45% of the clinicians having bilingual capabilities in Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, Chinese, Mandarin, Cantonese, Armenian, Russian, and American Sign Language.

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