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Mission Statement

Family & Children's Service of Ithaca is dedicated to providing affordable, professional services that support children, families, and organizations in finding solutions to the challenges of life today.

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"Providing excellence in mental health services for children and their families to foster healthier and happier development and functioning"

Nearly half of our clients are children. While we see children in our traditional clinical treatments, Family & Children's Service has two specialized children's mental health programs: The Zero to Five Project and Children's Crisis Outreach Program.

The Zero to Five Project

The Zero to Five Project, in existence since 1995, offers comprehensive intensive, long-term counseling for families with infants and young children, ages birth to five, who are at risk of developing social, emotional, and psychological problems. The program provides early intervention within the context of the parent-child relationship, thereby fostering a more positive outcome for both parent and child.

The interactions between the parent and child are often complex and dynamic and can be the source of problems. Our clinicians help families with issues such as:

• Parent/child relationships
• Behavioral challenges
• Social and emotional development
• School problems
• Coping with a disability in a parent and/or child
• Childhood trauma
• Life transitions
• Attachment, separation, and loss issues
• Separation and divorce; step-parenting and blended families
• Grief and loss
• Conflict with a spouse or partner
• Stress, depression, and anxiety

Consultations are available to both parents and professionals who have concern about the healthy social-emotional development of a young child. Many of our clients call us directly seeking help with difficulties in parenting a young child but we also welcome referrals from pediatricians, county social and health agencies, Head Start and pre-school programs, and other sources.

Since much of the therapy involves both the child and the parent, a key component of the Zero to Five Project is smaller caseloads for the therapists allowing them to devote more time to their cases. They make home visits, phone calls, work with caregivers, pre-school teachers, and medical professionals.

Therapy takes place at our offices, schools, child-care settings, and in clients' homes throughout the county. Our referral network is expanding and includes many are pre-school and child-care centers.

Services include:

• Assessment and treatment of the child
• Individual play therapy
• Dyadic therapy (therapy with both child and parent/caregiver)
• Child/parent therapy groups
• Home visits
• Referrals to community services
• Psycho-educational workshops
• Mental Health consultations to organizations serving young children

The Zero to Five Project is supported in part by Community Reinvestment Funds through the NY State Office of Mental Health, the United Way of Tompkins County, and private donations and foundation grants. The agency uses Medicaid, EAP contracts, private insurance, and a sliding fee scale to cover payments for service. No one will be turned away for an initial assessment due to inability to pay.

Children's Crisis Outreach Program
Children's Crisis Outreach Program, a four to six week crisis intervention and short-term, intensive counseling program, provides immediate mental health services for children (K-12th grade) and their families. The crises we deal with--serious post-traumatic reactions, suicidal or homicidal thoughts, violent or aggressive behaviors--create challenges for our crisis team. Crisis clinicians work briefly but intensely to stabilize mental health functioning in order to prevent hospitalization or removal of the child from home or school.

Service is usually provided within 24 hours and is free and confidential. A unique element of the program is its mobility. On-site assessment or appointments are available at school, home, or other mutually beneficial locations. Clinicians collaborate with other service providers involved with the child, such as the Department of Social Services, courts, and schools to ensure that treatment plans are coordinated and complementary. If services are still required at the end of the 6-week period, Family & Children's Service helps families with continued counseling or referrals.