Mental Health Center Offers New Programs

The San Fernando Valley Community Mental Health Center has three new programs to augment its mental-health coverage and substance-abuse treatment.

Perhaps the most unusual is the Sidekicks program, a collaborative effort with the Tarzana Treatment Center that helps clients who have been dually diagnosed with substance abuse and mental illness.

“We have found there is a very strong need to help people who have two problems--drug addiction and severe mental illness,” said Dorie Paley, the center’s director of public relations. “Whenever there is a need, we try and jump in and help as much as we can.”

The long-term goal of the Sidekicks program is to manage the symptoms of both problems for each client and help the client develop social and independent living skills, Paley said.

In addition to the Sidekicks program, the center has started the Transitional Youth program, which will help clients who are ready to leave the residential care center make the transition to living on their own. This day-treatment program, which offers specialized staff and resources for 17- to 21-year-olds, will help clients tackle the everyday concerns of life, such as finding a place to live and getting a job, Paley said.

The Adult Targeted Case Management program, which provides comprehensive mental-health services to clients, is the third program.

The Sidekicks program and the case management program are based in the center’s Hamlin Street facility in Van Nuys. The transitional-care program is at the Erickson Center for Adolescent Advancement on Woodman Avenue, also in Van Nuys.

For more information on the center and its programs, call the administrative offices at (818) 901-4830.