Since its beginning in 1926 as Pasadena Child Guidance Clinic, Pacific Clinics has expanded its range of services and broadened its geographic service area. Expanding its programs for severely emotionally disturbed children in public schools, Pacific Clinics grew with characteristic flexibility to serve children and families struggling to cope with the effects of World War II and its aftermath.

Pacific Clinics has now become nationally recognized for developing innovative programs and culturally competent services for persons struggling to overcome serious, severe and chronic mental conditions, their families, and their communities.

Through the years, Pacific Clinics continually anticipated change in individual and community needs by initiating and developing leading-edge programs for:

• Integrated substance abuse and mental health services (for co-occuring disorders)
• Children and adolescents (including those in the foster care system), transitional age youth, adults and older adults
• Homeless and disadvantaged persons in collaboration with our culturally diverse communities
• Consumer empowerment
• Crisis response
• Workforce training and placement
• Professional training, education, and careers through conferences and courses
• Research and education

In July 2007, Pacific Clinics merged with Portals, a 50-year-old Los Angeles-based behavioral healthcare agency known for its expertise in psychosocial rehabilitation, housing and vocational services, in a concerted effort to expand and enhance its services in those areas.

Today, Pacific Clinics continues its emphasis on the uniqueness of consumers and their active participation in recovery, as well as on family-focused, culturally appropriate, community-based behavioral health services as hallmarks of its effectiveness.