Mission & History

The Pacific Center is an award winning, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) community center based in Berkeley, CA serving the East Bay and Greater Bay Area. Through professional counseling, groups, community events, and advocacy, Pacific Center works to foster and enhance the well-being and self-respect of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals.

Founded in 1973 in response to a brutal gay bashing incident in Oakland, the Pacific Center is the oldest LGBT community center in the Bay Area and the third oldest in the United States. Over the past 37 years, Pacific Center has worked with tens of thousands of diverse LGBT people providing mental health and wellness services. Pacific Center has continually demonstrated innovation and leadership in responding to homophobia and the AIDS epidemic, and is committed to serving all parts of our diverse LGBT community.

Pacific Center offers licensed individual, couples and family mental health services, HIV counseling services, peer-support groups and a vibrant youth leadership program. The organization also provides LGBTQ sensitive training for 15-18 graduate-level therapists every year.

Pacific Center serves around 2,000 individuals every year and operates with five paid staff members, a working board of directors, over forty volunteer licensed mental health practitioners and trainers, and approximately thirty community volunteers who provide a wide variety of outreach and administrative support.


Newsletters

Click here to keep up with Pacific Center by reading our most recent newsletter, or sign up to receive your own copy in the future. Back issues are archived on our site for your convenience.


Community Drop-in Hours:

The Pacific Center's Community Drop-in hours are from 4pm - 8pm Monday through Friday.


Mental Health Clinic Hours:

The Pacific Center Mental Health Clinic is open by appt from 10am - 8pm Monday through Friday.

For more information contact our Mental Health Clinic at 510.548.8283 ext. 250 or email us at clinic@pacificcenter.org.

Staff & Board

Staff

Leslie Ewing
Executive Director

 

Louise Monsour, MFT
Director of Clinical Training

 

Aaron Testard, MFT
Clinic Program Manager

 

eddie gesso
Operations Manager, Clinical Administrator

 

Mark Wilson, Ph.D.
Youth Program Coordinator

 

Jan Herzog
Bookkeeper

 

Leo Brown
Administrative Assistant

 

Join us!
Volunteer Coordinator

 
Board
antonio
Antonio M. Salas, MDiv, MA
Board President
shannon
Shannon Brueckner, MFT
Board Vice-President
jim
Jim Hodgkins, Esq.
Board Treasurer
phil
Phillip F. Evans, II, MS, MFT
Board Secretary

dennis
Dennis Darrow
Board Member

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At The Pacific Center
we are building a strong and vibrant lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community in the East Bay and beyond.

Join us!
Visit our Center in Berkeley, CA and enjoy your home for the East Bay lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community.

2712 Telegraph
Berkeley, CA 94705
(510) 548-8283
Mon - Fri, 4 pm - 8 pm

Copyright, 2006
The Pacific Center