Youth Programs

Health, Education, Social Services

Caring for a troubled child or adolescent? You don’t have to do it alone. Our compassionate team is on standby ready to help you get the help you need. Our youth services include non-public school, a community mental health center, a therapeutic behavioral services program, a residential treatment center, and more.

young kids talking to a teacher

Short-Term Residential Therapeutic Program

Browning House in Richmond Hills

La Cheim STRTP’s Browning House, located in the serene Richmond Hills, is a Short-Term Residential Therapeutic Program (STRTP) dedicated to providing exceptional care and support to adolescents. With a team of highly-skilled professionals, Browning House offers a nurturing environment where young individuals can thrive and overcome challenges. Our program is designed to address the unique needs of each resident, providing them with the tools and resources necessary for personal growth and success.

Who We Are

Browning House is part of La Cheim STRTP, an organization committed to empowering adolescents and promoting their well-being. With years of experience in the field, our dedicated staff understands the importance of providing a safe and supportive environment where adolescents can heal, learn, and thrive.

Our program recognizes the critical need for comprehensive support and treatment for adolescents facing emotional, behavioral, and mental health challenges. The purpose of Browning House is to provide a structured and therapeutic environment that fosters growth, resilience, and positive change. Our program goals include promoting emotional well-being, developing essential life skills, facilitating healthy relationships, and preparing adolescents for successful transitions into their communities.

Browning House serves male and male-identifying adolescents between the ages of 12 and 18 who require a structured residential setting to address their mental health and behavioral needs. We understand that each resident is unique, and we strive to create an inclusive environment that respects and honors their individuality.

Clients at Browning House may present a range of challenges, including trauma, emotional dysregulation, self-harm, substance abuse, and mental health disorders. Our program is designed to meet their unique needs by offering individualized treatment plans, evidence-based therapies, and a supportive community. Our team utilizes trauma-informed care, cognitive-behavioral interventions, and therapeutic modalities to address the specific issues faced by our residents.

Browning House offers a comprehensive range of services delivered by a highly qualified and compassionate team. Our residents receive individual and group therapy sessions, psychiatric evaluations, academic support, life skills training, and recreational activities. Services are provided in a structured residential setting where residents benefit from a therapeutic milieu, specialized programming, and around-the-clock support from our dedicated staff.

By providing a nurturing environment, personalized care, and evidence-based interventions, Browning House at La Cheim STRTP is dedicated to empowering male and male-identifying adolescents, promoting their well-being, and facilitating their successful reintegration into the community

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Did you know there are more than 391,000 children and youth in foster care? Mental and behavioral health is the largest unmet health need for these children and teens.

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Up to 80 percent of children in foster care have significant mental health issues, compared with approximately 18 to 22 percent of the general population. See more child welfare stats.

Contact STRTP

For more information, contact Lemuel Constantino, Acting Program Director, at (510) 836-9567 or strtp@lacheim.org.

young adults laughing together at school

La Cheim School

Quality Education in Contra Costa & Alameda Counties

Who We Are

La Cheim School is a nonsectarian, nonpublic school which first opened in West Contra Costa County in 1974. The founders of the organization created the school’s programs to help children and youth who were failing in traditional educational settings. The initial program was designed as a criminal Justice Diversion Alternative to Incarceration. La Cheim referrals at that time were young people on probation, who had been expelled from school, or who had not been regularly attending. In 1980 at the request of Contra Costa County Mental Health Department, La Cheim Schools increased its referral base and added the mental health program component. Thus, La Cheim became a community-based mental health provider for Contra Costa and Alameda Counties.

Today La Cheim School continues to provide a caring, compassionate, and successful educational experience for all students. Our small campus and small classroom sizes (with a maximum of 12 students), as well as our skilled teachers and education support staff, ensure each student receives the individualized special education services they need to successfully complete their required educational course work. Our team includes a Registered Nurse, Licensed and Licensed Eligible Clinicians, and a Psychiatrist to ensure the support of every aspect of our students’ mental health.

The School team is led by Program Director Britany Oliver, LCSW, who is devoted to the delivery of trauma-informed care and tailored education to youth with a holistic wrap-around approach. The School’s curriculum and educational programming is directed by Holly Byrnes, who is certified under the Education Specialist Instruction Teaching Credential. Holly is dedicated to helping each one of La Cheim’s students reach their fullest potential. Holly and our team embrace the philosophy of Bertrand Russel – “a good life is inspired by love and guided by knowledge.”

Jennifer Nunez

Administrative/Student Services Coordinator

Jennifer has worked at La Cheim since December 2014. She started as a teacher’s assistant and now she is the Student Services Coordinator. She is passionate about working with troubled youth who struggle with a variety of mental health challenges as well as challenges in a school setting. This is the reason why she continues to work at La Cheim. La Cheim has been a family-based community where she has been able to create long-lasting relationships and has been able to grow as a person. She has supported students who didn’t have someone to listen to or even be a person who cares. She wants to be a reason why a student is successful in life and that they can achieve greatness and break those cycles that have been in their lives for generations. She supports and helps students to be able to see their potential and believe in themselves.

La Cheim believes that through warmth, empathy, and guidance combined with structure and limits, youth can heal, learn, and change. The school utilizes a creative, positive, youth-centered, academic model with the intent of improving self-esteem, mental health, and the academic performance of our youth.

We strive to prepare each student to be productive members of their community, to thrive in school, and to be active members of their families. Where appropriate, we teach students the skills required to return to their neighborhood public schools as quickly as possible. For some students, their families and school district might decide it would be in the student’s best educational interest to continue in La Cheim’s small, structured, individualized program. For those students who remain to continue their education, they can graduate from La Cheim with a High School Diploma, or a Certificate of Completion.

La Cheim has consistently been committed to serving youth whose life experiences have created challenges that have impacted them academically and emotionally. They are youth who have experienced loss, disruption, uncertainty, and the impact of systemic racism. Research has found that one in four children has been impacted by adverse childhood experiences; these experiences increase a child’s risk of health, emotional, and social issues. La Cheim focuses on drawing on our students’ resilience to build on their strengths. Research supports the crucial role educators and other caregivers have in nurturing resilience. The school’s consistent positive behavior intervention program is designed to provide youth with basic skills and competencies to become thriving adults, tapping into the resilience they have to overcome adverse experiences during this critical developmental period.

The school serves students in grades 6-12 with co-occurring intellectual delays and mental health challenges. Students have been identified as a part of their Individualized Education Plan as having social/emotional, behavioral, and learning needs that cannot be met in traditional school settings. Students are referred to La Cheim by our eight partner school districts and two charter schools throughout four Bay Area counties (San Francisco, Solano, Alameda, and Contra Costa).

To meet the unique needs of our youth, there is a maximum of 12 students per classroom, where our direct care staff implement evidence-based best practices for behavioral interventions designed to keep students engaged and on-task. This ensures that students receive the special educational services they need to successfully complete their coursework while also managing their socio-emotional, behavioral, and mental health needs.

Our deepest value is community. The longevity of our staff is evidence of our commitment. We become for each youth a community where they can get their needs met and their families can feel supported. We focus on the small routines that provide continuity and care as we transport students to and from school each day, and provide breakfast and lunch daily. We look for opportunities to celebrate by bringing our community together for holidays, acknowledging birthdays, and honoring our graduates. This sense of community extends to former students who call, at times because they need their transcript or to share about their lives, and often to say thank you.

Each La Cheim student has an individual Educational Program (IEP) that assesses present performance and proposes goals and objectives for the student to meet within a year. The teacher develops the student’s IEP goals using data gathered from testing and classroom observation, coordinated with input from the student’s IEP team including the student, parent, therapist, and school district personnel. The IEP teams may also include social workers, outside therapists, group home staff, and advocates.

With small class sizes, the program provides a project-based experiential learning program, with integrated services rendered by a multidisciplinary team including a nurse, psychiatrist, mental health therapist, and mental health resource specialist. Our dedicated and experienced professional staff work with each individual student and their families to help them develop their academic skills while strengthening social skills, problem-solving, and conflict resolution.

Therapists are available throughout the day to assist direct care staff in resolving peer conflict, help students remain engaged and focused on the classroom, and ensure they are benefiting from the program. Clinicians work closely with the team to ensure continuity of service and understanding of the best interventions to support each youth.

In the period between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2023, 16 students attended La Cheim School in El Sobrante for all or part of the year. Three of those students earned their high school diploma in August 2022; one student earned a high school diploma in February of 2023. Two students transitioned back to public school, successfully completing their program at La Cheim. In total, the students completed 414.50 academic credits during this time.

One of the graduates is now working at a women’s shelter; another is working in retail. Another graduate moved into transitional housing and has started taking classes at a community college.

In this period, 719.50 hours of job training were completed from July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2023. Forty-three of these hours were earned through once-a-week supervised work sessions at Waterside Bicycle Repair in Berkeley who partners with us to provide vocational training to our youth. Other students participated in the school-based Job Ready program on site which involves tasks on campus, researching employment opportunities, securing an ID card, and developing a resume to earn their job training hours.

Contact La Cheim School

For more information, contact Jennifer Nunez, (Administrative/Student Services Coordinator) Program Manager, at (510) 243-2360 or lacheimschool@lacheim.org.

a young man talking to a counselor

Youth Empowerment and Wellness – Therapeutic Behavioral Services, and Community Based Program

Prevention & Healing for Children & Adolescents

Who We Are

Youth engaged in the Youth Empowerment and Wellness Department (YEW) receive care in a supportive environment to end cycles of trauma and encourage renewed hope through Therapeutic Behavioral Services (TBS) and/or through the Community-Based Program (CBP). Both TBS and CBP are designed to increase youth access to mental healthcare; La Cheim’s programming becomes a safety net to accessing mental healthcare for the uninsured.

The goal of each TBS specialist/CBP Provider is to work with clients/students and caregivers in identifying patterns of maladaptive behaviors and developing functionally equivalent replacement behaviors that meet the same emotional need for the child. In doing this, there is a reduction in maladaptive behaviors and an increase in functional equivalent replacement behaviors. We help kids express what they are feeling in a healthy way. We help parents learn to better manage challenging behavior. And we do it in a way that is fun and interesting for the child.

YEW services offer trauma-informed mental health care to minors ages 2-21 through Therapeutic Behavioral Services (TBS) and the Community-Based Program (CBP). TBS serves youth with mental health diagnoses, often co-occurring with intellectual delays, in their homes and schools in Contra Costa and Alameda County. CBP provides mental health care to students through two school-based treatment sites in Alameda and San Francisco County: Oakland Street Academy, Garfield Elementary School, and Commodore Sloat Elementary School.

Through YEW, students receive care in a supportive environment to end cycles of trauma and encourage renewed hope. A team of clinical and nonclinical professionals offer outpatient individual, group, and family psychotherapy, and case management in the space most accessible to them vis-a-vis a menu of culturally-responsive, developmentally-appropriate services that meet each individual’s unique needs. Therapists educate teachers and caregivers to identify mental health concerns to ensure early interventions that reduce risks, improve social connectedness, and enhance academic engagement and performance.

Therapeutic Behavioral Services (TBS) is offered to youth in both Alameda and Contra Costa Counties with full-scope Medi-Cal. TBS is a specialty mental health preventative program designed to support youth impacted by extreme social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties, all of which increase the risk of removal from the home. Sessions are held where the challenging behaviors are mostly occurring either in the home, out in the community, and/or at school.

Our specialists are Designated Mental Health Workers, having at least a Bachelor’s Degree; a Practicum Trainee enrolled in a MFT or MSW Graduate Program; a Mental Health Rehabilitation Specialist, having a Master’s Degree; or an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist collecting hours towards licensure. Our specialists utilize several modalities and evidence-based practices in working with children and caregivers in building new, socially appropriate skills. Evidence Based Practices and interventions include Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Social Learning Theory, Solution Focused Therapy practices, The Nurtured Heart Approach principles, Mindfulness practices, and Trauma Informed Care approaches.

The CMHC has also made in-person mental health services available to high school youth with Severe Emotional Disturbances (SED) matriculating at the Oakland Emiliano Zapata Street Academy. Services have included individual and group psychotherapy; case management and care coordination; and parent-educator education. La Cheim has provided mental health services to about a dozen youth annually on a pro bono basis.

ADHD, anxiety problems, behavior problems, and depression are the most commonly diagnosed mental disorders in children. See estimates for ever having a diagnosis among children aged 3 to 17 years, in 2016 to 19, from the CDC.

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ADHD

Approximately 9.8% of children are diagnosed with ADHD.

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Anxiety

Approximately 9.4% of children are diagnosed with anxiety.

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Behavioral Problems

Approximately 8.9% of children are diagnosed with behavioral problems.

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Depression

Approximately 4.4% of children are diagnosed with depression.

Contact YEW

For more information, contact Leslie Leiva, Director, at (510) 222-3946 or yew@lacheim.org.