The Child and Family Guidance Center provides the counseling services to children
who were experiencing psychological problems. The goal is not only to maintain a
child in their home, school and community but to enable that individual child to
function at his/her optimum in a caring and nurturing family.
BEHAVIORAL HEALTH UNIT:
Outpatient Mental Health Program
Psychotherapy: The Center provides clinical assessment, and individual, family, and group therapy to its clients.
Diagnostic Evaluations: Psychiatric evaluations and psychological testing are available to children actively engaged in treatment at the Center.
Advocacy: Outpatient therapists advocate for families in order to help them overcome or confront barriers to better education, housing, health or other social/human needs.
Counseling services are provided to children whose parents have AIDS. The services are provided in collaboration with Evergreen and Casey Family Services.
Advocacy, case management, and supportive counseling are provided to children and their families who have difficulty accessing community services due to language or cultural barriers. 2
Substance Abuse Services
The program provides innovative and extensive in-home and community counseling services to youth that are abusing drugs or alcohol.
The program works intensively in the home with mothers whose substance abuse has negatively impacted an infant’s development and safety.
CRISIS AND CARE COORDINATION UNIT:
Crisis Services
The Center provides crisis assessment and brief intervention for children under the age of 19, 24 hours a day 7 days per week.
In partnership with the Bridgeport Police Department, the agency provides quick response to a police officer’s call when they encounter a child or youth who may need mental health services.
Care Coordination Services
Offers assistance to parents of children with mental health needs who require coordination of community based services so that the child may remain at home.
Federally funded project that works with the Bridgeport Schools to provide assistance to parents of children with mental health needs who require coordination of community based services so that the child remains in the home, school and community.
FAMILY SUPPORTIVE UNIT:
Improvement and maintenance of appropriate parenting skills are provided to parents with children who have been abused or neglected, or who are at risk of abuse or neglect.
Provide intensive in-home supportive counseling to parents, whose child was temporarily removed from the home by DCF but has been returned with the need for short term family support.
Assessment and intensive treatment services for families who are designated by DCF as potentially eligible for reunification with their child.
Provides support and assistance to first-time mothers, by helping to enhance the parent-child relationship, to ensure that baby’s and mother’s medical and mental health needs are met, and to access needed community resources.
Intensive family mentoring and youth enrichment experiences to children living in the East Side of Bridgeport and attend Luis Muñoz Marín School that are at risk of involvement with drugs and/or the judicial system as well as experiencing problems in school.
The program offers intensive in-home treatment to youth who primarily have mental health problems but may also be abusing drugs or alcohol and/or be involved in the juvenile justice system.
The program offers in-home treatment to youth who have been recently released on parole and have mental health and relationship issues with their parents or guardians. This program covers
This fee for service program provides supervised visitation between children and their non-custodial parent.
PREVENTION UNIT:
The program conducts on-going serven-week video-based parent education classes throughout the Greater Bridgeport area. Classes are offered during the day and the evening. The program is available in both English and Spanish. Anyone interested in improving their parenting skill are welcomed.
This is one of the Mentoring Program for Children. The program provides assistance and supportive person-to-person services to children with special needs. Foster Grandparents. Foster Grandparents give children the much-needed attention that can change lives. They help children learn to read care for children with disabilities and offer counseling to those who need it. Foster Grandparents give their experience and their talent to improve the lives of children in need.
The program for Grandparents and caregivers who are raising grandchildren / kin recognizes that many are doing this at a time in their life when they thought they though they would be retired. Raising grandchildren is a mixed blessing and it's difficult in this new technological world. We offer "Parenting the 2nd Time Around", an 8 week parenting class offered 3 times each year including one class in Spanish. We meet from 6.00 to 7.30 PM each wednesday night and provide a light supper and free childcare. This gives the grandparents a much needed respite from cooking and caring for the grandchildren. In addition, there are monthly support meetings with speakers appropriate for the grandparents / kin. Dinner and free childcare are provided. Each year there is an outing with the grandchildren which continues to strengthen the bond between each family. The grandparents know they are not alone raising their grandchildren and that we are here to help them.