JCS Family Counseling Services provides specialized mental health services for families by focusing on the prevention and treatment of emotional trauma to foster resiliency in children from infancy through adolescence. JCS believes that a strong family unit provides children with a sense of belonging and a critical sense of value and gives them a vital network for social support.
Programs
JCS Family Counseling Services provides an array of specialized mental health services for youth and families. Clients range from infants, children and adolescents, to adults and caregivers. JCS offers mental health counseling for individuals, families, couples, and groups and targeted case management services for children 0-17. In addition, JCS provides community outreach and prevention education and care coordination. Specialized therapy services are available to child, adolescent, and adult survivors of sexual abuse and sexual assault.
With a strong reputation for providing quality services and programs, JCS Family Counseling Services focuses in serving all communities regardless of race, religion, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, immigration status, or language.
Programs include:
Infant & Early Childhood Services
Infant and Early Childhood Services provides a full range of family-centered services focusing on young children, from birth to age eight, and their primary caregivers.
Services promote:
- Healthy social-emotional development
- Secure and nurturing child-caregiver relationships
- Development of healthy attachment relationships
- Collaborative approach with the mental health therapist, parents, teachers, and other service professionals
Services provided include:
- Dyadic Therapy: strengthens the parent/child bond
- Individual Play Therapy: assists with emotional regulation, learning healthy socialization and coping skills, and appropriate emotional expression
- Family Therapy: parents and caregivers are active participants and learn skills to advocate for their children and empower families
- Group Therapy: building skills within a supportive setting
- Developmental Screenings: young children are assessed to determine developmental concerns and needs
- Help Me Grow: provides developmental screenings and connects families to services in the community
- Families and Schools Together (FAST): this program aims to increase parent empowerment, strengthen family communication and cohesiveness, reduce behavior problems in children, improve parent involvement in school and community activities, and expand family social support.
Counseling and Case Management Services
Counseling promotes growth, empowerment and enhanced functioning of individuals and families by providing quality mental health and case management services focusing on restoring or improving their level of functioning and access needed resources.
JCS offers the following:
- Therapy services: help children (ages 6-17), families and adults cope with personal, emotional, and relationship problems, giving them tools to better manage their life.
For children, this can include emotional support, help to resolve conflicts and new solutions for emotional and/or behavioral difficulties. In addition, counseling services are provided for clients with co-occurring disorders (substance abuse and mental health). Treatment is coordinated and addresses the complete family, cultural and ethnic experiences of clients. Children under the age of 6 in need of therapy are served through our Infant & Early Childhood Services Program. In addition, JCS offers specialized counseling and case management services to female youth ages 11-17 through the Girls Empowerment Initiative. This program is in collaboration with Girl Power, Inc. - Children’s Targeted Case Management: provides links to help families meet their basic needs, while at the same time addressing a child’s and his/her family’s educational, emotional and behavioral needs.
Case Management services are available to families with children under the age of 18. Eligible children are those who are at risk of being placed in a mental health residential program, who present with serious emotional disorders and need complex mental health and/or substance abuse services that require case management coordination.
Children’s targeted case management services are focused on those children residing in the geographic area from Little Havana to Homestead/Florida City. An essential component of the case management program is the comprehensive assessment of the child’s and family’s needs and identifying and linking them to community resources. It includes a holistic approach to service provision such as planning, referral and linking services for any family member in need. It also includes coordination and monitoring of the service provision and children’s rights advocacy.
Providing Adolescents and Children with Trauma-Focused Therapy (PACTT)
The PACTT Initiative is designed to address the needs of trauma victims with great sensitivity and respect for the experiences of those affected. Treating trauma and traumatic grief in children and adolescence with Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), children and parents are given the ability to learn new skills in helping process thoughts and feelings related to traumatic events; allowing them to manage and resolve distressing thoughts, feelings and behaviors in efforts to enhance safety, growth, parental skills and family communication.
With the support from NCTSN and SAMHSA, the PACTT Initiative will offer services for five consecutive years to existing trauma-focused intervention programs located within schools of Liberty City and Homestead, as well as a domestic violence shelter, the juvenile justice system and veteran service offices. In building the capacity of child-serving professionals to effectively respond to youth who are unable to cope with traumatic stress, PACTT Initiative staff will train community professionals and stakeholders who interface with our population of focus.
For more information about the PACTT Initiative or submit a referral, you may contact:
Christina Lalama
PACTT Project Director
CLalama@JCSFL.org or 305-670-1911 ext. 605
Non-Offending Caregivers (NOC) Program
The NOC Program is designed to work with non-offending caregivers of children who have been sexually abused. Many non-offending caregivers have a history of trauma experienced either in childhood, as an adult, or both, which can make it challenging to cope with the needs of their children when his/her child experiences sexual trauma. Most non-offending caregivers are highly distressed following disclosure of their child’s sexual abuse, which can also make it difficult to support or protect their child.
NOC services include 14 weeks of psycho-educational groups focused on topics related to child development, healthy child sexuality, the grooming process, how sexual abuse impacts the child and family, the healing process, etc. Services are also available in an individual therapy setting as needed. The program is provided in English and Spanish and offered at a low cost.
For more information about the NOC Program or to submit a referral, you may contact:
Maggie Pujol
Intake Coordinator
MPujol@JCSFL.org or 305-740-8998
