MHA's Programs and Servces
Child and Adolescent Services
Parent and Family Services
Adult Services
LifeNet
Community Outreach and Public Education

Child and Adolescent Services

The Mental Health Association of New York City offers Children's Mental Health Services in New York City: A Parent's Guide. This comprehensive booklet provides vital information regarding the mental health issues affecting children, the latest treatments and services available, information resources, and where to go to get help. The Parent's Guide was developed by our Coordinated Children's Services Initiative. The guide is available in English and Spanish. La guía está también disponible en Español. File requires Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat, click here to obtain a free copy.

Adolescent Career Development Center

The mission of the Adolescent Career Development Center is to assist adolescents with histories of emotional and behavioral problems to achieve independence in adulthood. We believe that one of the most important keys to their success lies in their ability to obtain meaningful work.

The primary activities of this program are designed to expose emotionally disturbed youth to a variety of academic and vocational experiences including world of work internships, to equip them with the appropriate knowledge, understanding, and preparation to enter the workforce.

The Center is located at Bronx Children's Psychiatric Center, and provides services to adolescents in Bronx Children's Psychiatric Center's hospital and community-based programs operated through collaboration with public and private mental health organizations, the business community and local schools and community organizations.

For more information, please contact:

Program Coordinator
Adolescent Career Development Center
565 Gerard Avenue
2nd Floor
Bronx, NY 10456
Tel: (718) 742-6181
Fax: (718) 583-6090

(Back to top)

Bronx Adolescent Skills Centers

The Bronx Adolescent Skills Centers help emotionally disturbed adolescents who have often had a very tough time in school, suffer with low self-esteem and have few, if any, job skills by offering an array of vocational, educational, experimental, career planning and job placement services that empowers adolescents for the world of work.

The Adolescent Skills Centers prepare adolescents with histories of emotional and behavioral problems to achieve independence in adulthood. We believe that one of the most important keys to this success is their ability to obtain meaningful and productive work.

Our programs offer a menu of vocationally-oriented services which include: vocational skills assessment, GED and literacy classes, computer instruction, exposure to a variety of diverse job experiences in real work settings, internship placements in competitive businesses, job coaching, peer support and case management services.

Understanding that family members and caregivers play an important role in shaping adolescents' vocational development, parents are involved in the initial orientation sessions and through the period of time that their children are participants in the program.

For more information about the Adolescent Career Development Centers, contact:

(Back to top)

Residential Care Management

Sometimes the stress of dealing with a child's or adolescent's emotional illness is too great for even the strongest family. In this case, a youth may need to be admitted to a residential treatment facility, where he or she can receive intensive therapy, special education and 24-hour supervision at one location.

The Mental Health Association of New York City, Inc. in collaboration with the Sate Office of Mental Health identifies youngsters between the ages of 6-21 that are diagnosed as severely emotionally disturbed (SED) and are in need of residential care.

The Pre-Admission Certification Committee (PACC) determines if the youngster meets the psychiatric criteria for residential care. PACC is comprised of a multi-disciplinary team: board certified child and adolescent psychiatrist, psychologist, social worker, representatives from ACS, Dept. of Education, and OMH.

If the youngster is not deemed eligible by PACC, alternative recommendations and suggestions are offered to the family/referral source to keep youngsters at home in their communities.

For more information about the Residential Care Program, (212) 964-5253 Ext. 306.

(Back to top)

Coordinated Children's Services Initiative

The Coordinated Children's Services Initiative (CCSI) is an innovative model of care in New York City for families of special needs youngsters who are at risk of being removed from the home into hospitals or residential programs. CCSI is a multi-agency effort that creates locally coordinated systems of care. This model helps youngsters return to school after long absences and keeps families together and children symptom free.

CCSI promotes core principles designed to address the fragmented, categorical, and inflexible nature of children's services systems. These principles include cooperative interagency planning and integrated services, individualized care planning and a strength-based approach that emphasizes the empowerment of clients as full partners in their service planning.

The CCSI model uses family network conferences to bring together representatives of all the agencies and community resources involved in a child's treatment. During a meeting with the family, these representatives develop a coordinated care plan to help keep the child at home or in the community.

For more information about CCSI, call (212) 964-5253 Ext. 320

(Back to top)