Overview
- Updated On:
- January 27, 2023
Description
Founded in 1924, Wellnest has always been on the leading edge of mental health and supportive services for children and families. Wellnest helped to pioneer early intervention programs for the 0-5 population, intensive services for at-risk children and families, skills-based mental health services for young adults 16-25, and an inventive collaboration with primary care providers, bringing mental health professionals on-site in community settings.
Wellnest has earned designation as a Trauma-Informed Learning Community by the National Council for Behavioral Services, and offers trauma-informed services in all aspects of its program, including the walk-in Access and Wellness Center, where children and adults can get immediate services.
Wellnest’s Socially Integrated Service Model is designed to address the whole child, from 0-25, the entire family, and the communities they live in. We blend evidence-based clinical practices to address the effects of trauma; youth development programs and TAY housing to enable children and youth to develop coping skills, self-esteem and stability; and family support services to build on family strengths to promote thriving futures. Exposing vulnerable children to new opportunities for learning and growth, with an emphasis on positive youth development, academic achievement, health and wellness, prevention services, are critical coping skills for future self-sufficiency. We work in partnership with the family and engage the larger community—particularly schools and other youth service providers—because we recognize that children need functional families and healthy communities to thrive.
Our programs are family-driven and culturally respectful. They have been influenced by our more than 98 years of experience treating traumatized children, our longstanding participation in the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN), the burgeoning literature on the importance of brain development, and the recognition that services need to focus not only on reducing risk factors but also on increasing overall health and wellness (protective and promotive factors). For many of our children/youth and their families, this is the first time that they have received holistic health services. We work diligently to “demystify” mental health and work with them so that they feel included in the design and implementation of services.
Further, our clinical mental health programs also serve as a training site for the various graduate schools of Social Work from major universities in Southern California, with a more than 20-year history of training culturally competent social work practitioners.
For more information, please visit Wellnest.
