Counseling Services
Family Paths offers a wide variety of individual and family counseling services. Please select a specific area on the left to learn more.
Early Childhood Mental Health
The Early Childhood Mental Health Program (ECMH) at FamilyPaths provides services that promote the social and emotional growth of children from birth through age 5. We work with families whose children are experiencing emotional distress, behavioral and or social challenges at home, day care or preschool or who�ve experienced trauma such as family or community violence.
Our clinicians work with a relationship-based therapy approach which focuses on supporting young children and their primary caregivers. Such caregivers may be mothers, fathers, grandparents, other kinship caregivers or foster parents. We reach out to support families in the communities where they live throughout Alameda County by providing services in the home (office visits in Oakland, Hayward and Fremont are also available).
Our services include case management which can assist families in connecting with community resources that will provide additional support for their young child.
Social and emotional characteristics that may signal the need for assessment and/or treatment include:
� Severe tantrums or aggression (biting,hiting)
� Persistent sadness
� Excessive worry or fearfulness
� Sleep and eating problems
� Relationship problems, such as attachment and bonding
� Problems getting along others at home, day care or preschool
� Depression and bereavement due to death or other life transitions
Families in Transition
The Families in Transition program (FIT) at FamilyPaths provides a flexible and comprehensive model of mental health services aimed at supporting children, adolescents and their families who are experiencing significant amounts of stress and instability in their lives. The flexibility of our program allows us to work with children in the environment that best meet their and their family�s needs. Throughout Alameda County, we go to homes and schools, as well as, the more traditional office based locations in Oakland, Hayward and Fremont.
Our strengths based, culturally sensitive and individualized approach combines the best of traditional play, talk and art therapies with practical case management support to meet the more immediate needs in children�s lives.
Our goals often include placement and school stabilization, reduction in symptoms, strengthening of family and community bonds and an increase in a child and family�s coping strategies to respond to difficult circumstances.
Services last as long as the child continues to meet the qualifications for the program, often over a year, sometimes longer.
CalWORKS
The CalWORKS program was established in 2000 by FamilyPaths for parents transitioning from welfare to work. We provide counseling, referrals to parenting classes and life skills classes, connections to job resources and community resources.
Our CalWORKS specialists see clients in our offices in Oakland and Hayward and at various sites in the community. We are available at the four Peralta Colleges campuses to accommodate CalWorks recipients who are attending classes. We are also available at the Eastmont Town Center and throughout Alameda County.
CalWORKS specialists perform mental health screenings and identify learning disabilities to ensure that clients� needs are fully met. Our specialists work with clients to increase basic living skills, remove hurdles in the transition from welfare to work, and increase self sufficiency. Our priority is helping parents and caregivers meet their educational and financial goals in order to ensure stable lives for their families, as well as for themselves.
Treatment, Intervention and Prevention Services
The TIPS program offers counseling and therapy by focusing on the needs of the parents separate from their children, although counseling and therapy may involve both the child and the parent.
For the past 34 years, we have worked to reduce the instances of child abuse within Alameda County.
Child abuse reporting rates in Alameda County continue to climb. Over 20,000 reports of child abuse and neglect were made in 2004 giving Alameda County one of the highest rates of reported child abuse and neglect cases for all counties statewide (CA Department of Social Services, Statistical Service Bureau).
Long-term effects of child abuse on the individual, and society as a whole, continue to unfold. Depression, suicide, violent behavior patterns, delinquency, drug and alcohol abuse and various forms of criminality are frequently related to child abuse. Adults who have experienced childhood abuse often find it difficult to build trusting relationships, maintain employment and parent their own children effectively. In short, they are robbed of reaching their potential. Family units break down and children miss the opportunities necessary for a successful transition from childhood to adolescence to adulthood. Everyone in the community suffers from the loss of this potential.
FamilyPaths offers specialized counseling services to those who have abused their children or are at risk of abusing their children. The organization's focus is on the prevention of all forms of child abuse by providing mental health services that will ensure the growth and development of children and families. All children deserve a consistent, healthy home environment to enhance their potential in life regardless of socioeconomic background.
