Early Childhood Mental Health Program fosters healthy emotional, social, and psychological development in children aged birth to six years, helps them succeed in school, and gives them the tools to reach their full potential.

As one of the few mental health agencies working to help very young children recover from the effects of childhood trauma, our goal is to create strong families and foster families and, ultimately, to create a more vital community.

Through a variety of child treatment and parent and caregiver counseling programs, we have helped many families remain intact and able to nurture their children at a critical time in their development.

One third of our clinical staff is Spanish-speaking. Most of these are also bi-cultural. We welcome monolingual Spanish-speaking families.

One of our favorite quotes: Babies and young children thrive when they are cared for by adults that are “crazy about them!” Responsive relationships with consistent primary caregivers help build positive attachments that support healthy social-emotional development. These relationships form the foundation of mental health for infants, toddlers and preschoolers. From the website of Zero to Three, quoting from Urie Bronfenbrenner: “The Experimental Ecology of Education (1976). Go to our resources page for materials of interest to parents, professionals, and students. This Spring, we will offer our third lecture series in Richmond, supported once again by the George Miller Youth Fund. Announcements will appear in our next e-mail newsletter.

San Francisco Foundation has given us a generous grant to build our capacity to provide mental health services to children living in Richmond and other parts of West County who are abused, neglected, or seriously emotionally disturbed, focusing on serving more children of working poor families who are not eligible for MediCal funding. With funding from a local family, East Bay Community Foundation has given us a generous grant specifically to strengthen programs for Richmond-based children and families, citing our agency's "deep work" with families and its strong community Board. Children in working poor families often are not eligible for Medicaid or other public funding. Contributions of individuals help us pay for services to them. If you are interested, please click on "Want to Help?" above.