“Where flowers bloom, so does hope.” – Lady Bird Johnson
Dear Friends,
As 2024 comes to an end here at The Guidance Center, there are so many reasons to be filled with gratitude, optimism, and hope. The incredible generosity and kindness of our donors, community members, and staff have not only empowered our mission to provide crucial mental health services and resources to children and families but also planted seeds of hope for the future.
Here are some of the highlights from this past year:
- We continued to provide vital core mental health services to more than 2,811 children and their families, providing 67,884 treatment sessions at all three of our clinics, in schools, and in the community.
- With the support from a very generous anonymous grant, we have embarked on an ambitious and exciting project aimed at bridging the gap between wellness and specialty mental health services within our community: a new Family Resource Center that will serve as a beacon of hope for all who need it. Our goal is to provide critical resources to support families facing adversity.
- Thanks to our close collaborative partnership with the pediatric care teams at MemorialCare Miller Children’s and Women’s Hospital, one of our Whole Child Program psychologists is now co-located at the Cherise Mari Laulhere Children’s Village. They provide evidence-based mental health treatment for vulnerable families with complex healthcare needs in the community setting (i.e. at the hospital, at home, at medical appointments, at school).
- Our School Crisis Response Program team has responded to 95 individual crisis interventions and provided 137 supportive services such as campus-wide interventions and staff consultations and trainings.
- Our agency has engaged a DEI consultant and is working with them to identify where we can best implement diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies in our work, both internally and externally.
All of these achievements would not have been possible without the enormous generosity and kindness of each person who played a role in our mission: the therapist who has given a child a safe space to share their darkest secrets and fears, the donor who contributed toys and gifts to a family during the holidays, or the teen who bravely walks through our doors, trusting that someone will guide her as she finds her way.
Thank you for uplifting the mission and vision of The Guidance Center. We are honored to have you walk beside us as we aim to build a brighter future and instill hope for children and families in our community.
Sincerely,
Patricia Costales, LCSW
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)