Counseling Services

Early Childhood Mental Health

The Early Childhood Mental Health Program (ECMH) at Family Paths 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,hitting)

• 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 Family Paths 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 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 Family Paths 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.

CalWORKs screeners identify learning disabilities and mental health needs and refer them to clinicians and case management specialists throughout the County. Our CalWORKs case management specialist sees clients in our offices in Oakland, at the Eastmont Self Sufficiency Center, and at various sites in the community. We are available at community college campuses for case management and provide Life Skills Workshops for CalWORKs clients who are attending classes.

Our clinical staff provides mental health services, and the case management team works with clients to remove barriers to self sufficiency, helping the clients transition from welfare to work. Our priority is helping parents and caregivers meet their personal, educational and financial goals in order to attain stable lives for themselves and their families.

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 36 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.

Family Paths 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.

Finding Peace Within Support Group

A Skills Group for Trauma Survivors

When we have experienced trauma in the past, our bodies may continue to feel stressed and try to protect us from harm long after the situation is over. We might feel anger, despair, turmoil or numbness even when we don’t remember or are not thinking about what happened. We can learn steps towards living more calmly and at ease in our lives today.

This group for women meets for ten weeks and covers simple and practical skills that can be practiced in our daily lives.

New groups starting throughout the year.

For information on upcoming groups, please call our 24 Hour Support & Resource Line at 1-800-829-3777