Alameda County Behavioral Health Care Services: Building Hope, Construyendo Esperanza- Early Childhood Program

Building Hope, Construyeno Esperanza (formerly Early Childhood Consultation and Treatment Program) provides two types of clinical services to young children and their caretakers- mental health consultation to preschools and parent/child psychotherapy.

Early intervention and prevention services are provided through on-site mental health consultation and direct services to child care staff who care for children ages 0-6. The goal of mental health consultation is to promote and enhance relationships between the child, child care staff, and the child’s family to create a positive child care experience for young children. Consultants address social-emotional, behavioral, developmental, classroom, and family issues within the context of this work. Consultation services include observations of children in their classrooms, direct work with teachers, directors, and caregivers and may include group work with children.

Building Hope also provides home and clinic-based dyadic parent/child and family psychotherapy for children ages 0-7 years and their families. Mental health services focus on behavioral, social-emotional, and/or developmental needs that parents and caregivers have in their relationship with their young children. Common themes addressed in this treatment are separation and loss, trauma, domestic violence, abuse and neglect, poverty, and homelessness. An attachment model is utilized to address these themes.

Both services are provided in a relationship-based psychodynamic model that includes collateral work with parents, individual play therapy, developmental assessments, developmental guidance, some behavioral intervention, and case management. All our work is guided by family-driven care principles. We work side-by-side with our Family Partner who has lived experience as a parent raising children with special needs.  We provide families with the support they want and encourage them to advocate for their children and their families.  All services are provided with a commitment to socio-cultural sensitivity. Both mental health consultation to child care and parent/child therapy focus on the rapidly changing development of the young child and how development interfaces with mental health concerns. The focus of the intern training experience is on both types of service delivery (mental health consultation to child care and parent/child therapy).

Common themes that arise in our work are trauma, separation and loss, attachment, development, parenting, poverty, and community and family violence.  We address the attachment between young children and their primary caregivers with the goal of strengthening this bond to better support the child’s social-emotional functioning.  The focus of our work is on helping adults build empathy for the young child in their life. Building Hope addresses behavioral and developmental concerns, parenting issues, traumatic events, intergenerational abuse, and societal challenges.  Through consultation, Building Hope also addresses classroom management, teacher relationships, and staff and program development.

Children ages 0-7 years and their families and caretakers, including early care and education staff.  We predominantly serve children and families of color and immigrant families with limited socio-economic means.  Trauma, immigration, poverty, and loss and separation are common themes with the families we serve.

As mentioned above, Building Hope provides two services- mental health consultation and parent/child psychotherapy. Parent/child therapy is typically provided in the home environment and at times in the office playroom. Therapy includes assessment, goals setting, and advocacy in the community as needed.

Interns are usually assigned 2 parent/child psychotherapy cases along with a classroom to provide mental health consultation. Interns participate in weekly staff meetings and case consultation.  They receive extensive training and participate in an in-depth orientation prior to being assigned a classroom or families to work with. They receive weekly individual clinical supervision around the parent/child work for 1 ½ hours and twice a month individual supervision for the consultation work, each supervision being 1 ½ hours.  Building Hope practices a reflective supervision model and is strongly invested in the power and purpose of supervision. In addition, interns participate in weekly group supervision with other interns involved in the larger children’s system of care and a weekly didactic trainings on topics that relate to children of all ages. There are often many other community trainings opportunities available to interns throughout the year.  

Interns need to complete a County application process.  This can be a slow, time-consuming process so it typically begins in the summer prior to the internship starting.  Typical start date is early Sept.  

Spanish- speaking is of value as many of our families are monolingual.  This work requires someone who is an independent worker and comfortable traveling in the community. Any knowledge of child development is a plus. Any experience working with young children in any setting is also a plus.  It’s great if the intern has some experience providing services out in the field- home, school, etc. There is a lot to learn with both models and lots of multi-tasking with paperwork so this internship requires someone who is up to the steep learning curve and is organized as well.

BHCS has a graduate intern stipend program that all interns are eligible to apply for. It is not automatically granted and it is competitive. 

Interns are able to receive reimbursement for their work travel.  Alameda County, BHCS is an eligible agency for students who receive CalSWEC funding. 

Name

Title

Phone Number

E-mail Address

Deb Yates, LCSW

Program Supervisor

510-481-4203

dyates@acbhcs.org

Maria Coleman. LCSW

Mental Health Consultation Coordinator

510-481-4202

mcoleman@acbhcs.org

Janine Sandler, LCSW

Therapist and Consultant

510-481-4304

jsandler@acbhcs.org

Rosaura Zelaya, MFT

Therapist and Consultant

510-481-4201

rzelaya@acbhcs.org