Building Bonds, Trust, and Resilience

ArtClub

In January 2022, Center for Child Counseling partnered with Lighthouse ArtCenter to offer weekly group art therapy activities for tweens and teens to support their mental health, peer relationships, and overall well-being. The purpose of the program is to increase feelings of community and connectedness, build resilience and coping skills, and decrease feelings associated with anxiety, depression, loneliness, and/or stress.

CEO Renée Layman on choosing to begin with LGBTQ+ teens.

The group focuses on exploring and promoting LGBTQ+ well-being while engaging in art using mixed media. Each weekly session provides therapeutic art activities, ranging from painting to pottery, facilitated by both a Center for Child Counseling mental health therapist and a Lighthouse ArtCenter art instructor. At the end of each group cohort, participants receive their own Art and Mindfulness Kit to promote continued use of the skills and techniques learned during the group sessions.

Parenting Support Groups

With a continued focus to provide knowledge and tools to make families safer and stronger, CFCC created a trusted space for parents and caregivers to freely share their experiences, challenges, and strengths in a confidential group setting.

In these encouraging sessions, parents learn about child development and are taught techniques such as reflective listening, encouragement, limit setting, and choices to manage children’s emotions and behaviors. The importance of attitude and acceptance is stressed in strengthening the parent-child relationship.

The Giving Tree

CFCC staff often see a relentless source of continuing trauma: extreme financial stress. Children and their parents accessing our therapy and support programs often need basic supplies such as clothing, shoes, hygiene products, financial assistance, and more. We are so grateful for our new partner The Giving Tree, which provides families with the dignity of being clothed and cared for while offering economic assistance to help bring families into a place of safety and stability as they heal together.