History & Mission

Our Mission

South Bay Children’s Health Center serves the dental and mental health needs of low-income or at-risk children, teens and young adults; empowering them to live healthy, productive and happy lives.

 

South Bay Children’s Health Center (SBCHC) was founded in 1947 to meet the most pressing unmet health care needs of low-income children in the South Bay. Beginning as a dental clinic; a hearing clinic, vision clinic and special services clinic were soon added to round out the array of services being offered at that time. In 1967, in response to the growing need for mental health services for children in the South Bay, and in affiliation with the Los Angeles Child Guidance Clinic and USC School of Medicine, SBCHC’s Child Guidance Clinic was established. By 2008, SBCHC integrated the South Bay Youth Project, formerly run by the City of Redondo Beach, into its array of services allowing us to offer a full range of child and youth focused mental health services in a clinic environment as well as within local schools.

SBCHC continues to address most urgent unmet community health care needs for low income, at-risk and underserved youth focusing on community collaboration with other nonprofit organizations and local school districts to maximize effectiveness and minimize service duplication. Today SBCHC offers three primary programs intended to improve the oral health and mental health of more than 25,000 children, teens and young adults each year. Our focus on oral health and mental health has a positive impact on the overall health and well-being of those we serve.  Our programs and services include:

SBCHC Dental Program – A community based oral health outreach program screens young people at risk of untreated dental disease, educates participants and families about improving oral health, and connects them to the SBCHC Lawndale Dental Clinic as an accessible, quality, affordable dental home.  The Dental Clinic is a four-operatory facility easily accessible for South Bay families by car or public transportation and it provides comprehensive dental care for youth ages 6 months through 24 years old.  In addition, as the result of a partnership with Torrance Memorial Medical Center through a grant from the California Community Foundation, we are able to offer preventive care out in the community through a “Virtual Dental Home” model that increases accessibility to preventive services.

SBCHC Child Guidance Clinic – Through our partnership with the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health, we are able to provide evidence-based psychotherapy for children and adolescents through 21 years old with emotional or behavioral challenges. The Child Guidance Clinic based in Torrance, provides specialty outpatient and in-home mental health services, including diagnostic assessment, individual and family therapy, parenting support, psychiatric services and psychological testing delivered by a highly qualified team of mental health professionals.

South Bay Youth Project – Reaches out beyond clinic walls providing short-term individual counseling, tutoring, support for individuals living with special health needs, classroom-based drug and alcohol prevention for teens and a Wilderness Program for at-risk teens that have been identified as having leadership potential.  The South Bay Youth Project also offers training to local school personnel and civic employees on issues such as suicide prevention. This program recognizes that mental health and wellness impacts every child in some way and reaches out to them in the places they attend school and interact with their peers.

 

© 2018 South Bay Children’s Health Center. All Rights Reserved.

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