The Diversity Center of Santa Cruz County, founded in 1989,  is a community center that inspires and supports LGBTQ+ people by providing critical services, events, activities, and spaces to enhance our community's well-being. We envision a healthy, vibrant, and diverse intergenerational LGBTQ+ community, safe and secure in their persons, schools, work, and homes, fueled by a spirit of collaboration with each other and the greater community.

The Diversity Center's innovative approach creates a new holistic well-being center that parallels Dr. Peggy Swarbrick's Eight Dimensions of Wellness. Of the eight dimensions, the Center begins this new direction with a focus on the emotional, social, physical, and environmental dimensions. The Center also is working  towards more significant health equity and removing barriers to well-being by supporting the most vulnerable individuals, including LGBTQ+ youth, seniors, transgender people, and Latinx people. 

Our multi-generational and multicultural work for the LGBTQ+ community includes:

• Evidence-based wellness programming to enhance well-being skills and knowledge

• Mental health trauma informed counseling to support emotional and psychological needs

• Enhancing physical spaces that create environments of safety

• Resources and referrals to help LGBTQ+ individuals connect with wrap-around services

• Advocacy to further a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive local community

• Education to foster understanding and allyship through demystification of LGBTQ+ people

Eight Dimensions of Wellness

What is wellness?

Wellness has a personal meaning for each individual, so it can be defined in many ways. In general, wellness refers to overall well-being. More than the absence of disease or stress, wellness involves having:

•  Purpose in life

• Active involvement in satisfying work and play

• Joyful relationships

• A healthy body and living environment

• Happiness