Sycamores School-Based Services program provides individual and group therapy to students and their families. By working collaboratively within the school community on campus, Sycamores’ clinicians are able to assist students who are experiencing crisis, difficulties with adjustment or attention, changes or losses in their lives, as well as support students in developing social, anger management, conflict resolution, and coping skills.
Read MoreUltimately our work, in concert with the teachers and administration, allows students to develop their unique strengths and abilities and assist them in remediating emotional difficulties that may be interfering with academic success. Our clinicians are also able to provide linkage services to other agencies, in home family support and access to medication, if the family can benefit from additional support.
In 2016, Sycamores began providing early intervention services, known as Birth to 5 Services, across 30 Head Start Centers in collaboration with Plaza de la Raza. The strength of this partnership has resulted in increased access to mental health services and, behavioral support as well as connections to community resources and academic success before preschoolers enter kindergarten.
Since 1997, Sycamores School-Based Mental Health programs have served as a model in Los Angeles, partnering with public school districts to provide impactful and effective mental health services to students, especially for those facing barriers in accessing services in traditional settings. Today, Sycamores provides mental health services in over 30 local public schools in the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, Alhambra, Pasadena, and Hacienda-La Puente areas, with offices located in Pacoima, Pasadena, and Covina.
Sycamores Opportunities Classrooms are self-contained, special education classrooms co-located on the general education campuses of our partner school districts. The classrooms are designed to help students who have been identified as having emotional difficulties, overcome their barriers to learning and then support them in their transition to a less restrictive educational setting.
Read MoreThe classrooms provide an integrated educational and treatment program, utilizing a therapeutic cognitive-behavior approach, alongside School-Wide Positive Behavioral Supports, to teach both academic and problem-solving skills. A fundamental belief of this model is that behavior can, and should, be taught just as academics are taught.
Sycamores also offers an interdisciplinary team who provide Classroom Support. For this program, Sycamores staff members with clinical and behavioral expertise work together with the existing instructional teachers and staff in place in a school or classroom. This model is designed to provide in-person coaching and support for the existing instructional team and the larger school community. With Sycamores guidance and resources, students receive individual, group, and parent counseling, case management and crisis intervention services, provided on and off school campuses.
Sycamores can also work in conjunction with a school district to provide Educational Support Services for students who may be at risk of being placed in a more restrictive school setting, such as residential placement, or who may be returning home from a residential placement. Although these services take place outside of a classroom setting, Sycamores works in strong collaboration with both the school district, staff, student, and family to provide support, resources, and mental health services during this critical time.
