DAY TREATMENT METHODOLOGY
The comprehensive multidisciplinary treatment plan and Individualized Education Plan implemented for each child is monitored on an ongoing basis. All staff of the Center are trained in the Center's philosophy and methodology and work together toward common goals. Our programs are located in public schools; however, the Center is also an accredited private school and community-based mental health agency.
Clinicians maintain regular contact with the families. They provide support and guidance for management of the child in a home setting and for coping and dealing with other general family problems. A program of parent consultation and education is provided at each site along with family therapy. Affective education is provided through group, individual and art therapies and is part of the treatment day. If a client needs additional services that the Center does not provide, the child or family member is referred to another community program for that needed service.
A Cooperative Agreement with the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine provides training opportunities for psychiatric fellows, and University faculty members provide regularly scheduled consultation to Center programs. An agreement with the Miami-Dade County Public School System provides teaching staff, curricular materials, transportation and facilities. All clients are staffed through the Regional Special Education Department.
Most of our clients would be referred to residential treatment if our program were not available. Multidisciplinary assessment and treatment enable the Bertha Abess Children's Center to provide a complete range of individualized psycho-educational and clinical services to our clients and their families.
Numerous universities seek placement in our program for their interns or fellows specializing in exceptional child education, social work, psychology and psychiatry. In 1993, the Center was presented the national Distinguished Agency Award by the American Association of Psychiatric Centers for Children. In 1995, the U.S. Department of Education selected the Bertha Abess Children’s Center, Inc. as a national model for children and youth with severe emotional handicaps.
