Children’s Health Council to Focus on Challenges to Learning Success
PALO ALTO, CA (June 5, 2012) Children’s Health Council (CHC) announces a new vision for the agency, with a focus on learning success for children.
CHC has provided a broad range of mental health, developmental and educational services to the community for 59 years. “When Dr. Esther B. Clark founded CHC, she created an agency that would be responsive to the needs of our local children,” states Rosalie Whitlock, Ph.D., Executive Director of CHC. “Today we are continuing the vision of our founder by responding to a profound and nearly universal community need to support children’s educational success.”
CHC will continue to operate two schools on its Palo Alto campus, Esther B. Clark School and Sand Hill School. Esther B. Clark School is a non-public school working with 26 local public districts to teach students with complex challenges in grades 2-10. Sand Hill School is a private school for students in grades K-4 with learning, attention and social interaction challenges.
A new division called the Center for Learning Support will also be established. The Center will be staffed by an experienced group of clinicians and will offer evaluation and treatment programs for children who struggle to achieve educational success because of ADHD, autism, anxiety or depression, or learning differences. The Center will also provide therapeutic services to support the students and teachers at CHC’s two schools and at schools in our community at large.
CHC will maintain its commitment to the underserved by operating a clinic that offers a broad range of mental health and developmental services to support the growth and learning success of children and families supported by Santa Clara County Medi-Cal and Healthy Families programs. “I’m excited about this new vision for CHC because it builds on areas where we have a strong record of success, and it gives us a clear focus as we work to expand the valuable programs we offer children in our community,” states Ross Jaffe, M.D., Chair of the CHC Board of Directors.
With this new focus, CHC will discontinue some existing mental health clinical services. Children who are currently using these services will be individually referred to other qualified providers in the community.
This new vision for CHC will begin to take effect on July 1, 2012.
Children’s Health Council History:
In 1953, Dr. Esther B. Clark founded CHC to provide families with multi-disciplinary, integrated care for their children with intellectual disabilities and physical handicaps. Dr. Clark insisted on keeping children with their families in order to treat the family as a unit. When community needs evolved, CHC changed its focus to serving children and teens with behavioral, emotional, developmental and learning challenges.
Contact:
Erika Amaya, Communications Associate
Children’s Health Council
650.617.3841 | eamaya@stage.chconline.org
www.chconline.org
