About
Mission
Through a holistic approach to emotional well-being, Wellnest offers hope, healing and opportunity to the children, young adults, families, and communities we serve. Our commitment remains steadfast as we enter our second century of service.
Vision
That everyone has access to the support services needed to achieve the emotional well-being critical to reaching their full potential.
Excellence & Integrity
We uphold a well-established standard of excellence and accountability by using best practices and continuous quality improvement. Our staff acts with personal and professional integrity to ensure every child, young adult, family and community member is provided the highest level of care available.
Empowerment & Respect
We respect the culture and individuality of those we serve. We encourage the expression of their preferences, goals, and aspirations, as well as meaningful contributions regarding decisions about the services and support they receive.
Integrated & Accessible
We strive to offer a comprehensive and growing array of services readily accessible to children, young adults, and their families whenever and wherever they are needed. We believe that an integrated approach to care is critical to creating positive outcomes that support long-term growth.
Family-Focused Approach
We offer a family-centered approach to care that addresses the unique circumstances of those we serve. We provide services and support that focus on each person’s needs in the context of family, community and other key influences.
Life-Long Wellness
We focus on a 360-degree view of wellness, offering life-long skills for improving and maintaining emotional and physical health. We offer tools for children, young adults, and their families to help improve quality of all aspects of their lives; including social, educational, financial, intellectual, physical and spiritual.
Productive Partnerships
We responsibly steward donor support and facilitate partnerships with agencies, community resources, schools and families, to deliver the highest quality services. By linking constituents with the appropriate forms of assistance, we expand and amplify our impact on those in need.
Organization Overview
Founded in 1924, Wellnest has always been on the leading edge of mental health and supportive services for children and families. Wellnest helped to pioneer early intervention programs for the 0-5 population, intensive services for at-risk children and families, skills-based mental health services for young adults 16-25, and an inventive collaboration with primary care providers, bringing mental health professionals on-site in community settings.
Wellnest has earned designation as a Trauma-Informed Learning Community by the National Council for Behavioral Services, and offers trauma-informed services in all aspects of its program, including the walk-in Access and Wellness Center, where children and adults can get immediate services.
Wellnest’s Socially Integrated Service Model is designed to address the whole child, from 0-25, the entire family, and the communities they live in. We blend evidence-based clinical practices to address the effects of trauma; youth development programs and TAY housing to enable children and youth to develop coping skills, self-esteem and stability; and family support services to build on family strengths to promote thriving futures. Exposing vulnerable children to new opportunities for learning and growth, with an emphasis on positive youth development, academic achievement, health and wellness, prevention services, are critical coping skills for future self-sufficiency. We work in partnership with the family and engage the larger community—particularly schools and other youth service providers—because we recognize that children need functional families and healthy communities to thrive.
Our programs are family-driven and culturally respectful. They have been influenced by our more than 98 years of experience treating traumatized children, our longstanding participation in the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN), the burgeoning literature on the importance of brain development, and the recognition that services need to focus not only on reducing risk factors but also on increasing overall health and wellness (protective and promotive factors). For many of our children/youth and their families, this is the first time that they have received holistic health services. We work diligently to “demystify” mental health and work with them so that they feel included in the design and implementation of services.
Further, our clinical mental health programs also serve as a training site for the various graduate schools of Social Work from major universities in Southern California, with a more than 20-year history of training culturally competent social work practitioners.
Our Name Change
We would like to provide you with some background on our new name—which has changed from Los Angeles Child Guidance Clinic (LACGC) to Wellnest.
During our nearly 100 years serving Los Angeles, our scope of services, as well as the clients served have significantly expanded. We continue to serve some of the most underserved communities in our city through an integrated approach to emotional health and wellness that recognizes the importance of family and the ability to address the needs of children, young adults and their families.
Not too long ago, we embarked on the development of a strategic plan and one of the findings revealed the need to explore a new name for the Los Angeles Child Guidance Clinic. After lengthy consideration and review, we are excited and proud to introduce our name and identity to you—Wellnest. Our new name helps to communicate our expanded services and client reach. It also recognizes the changes in our community’s needs and the advancement of emotional health and wellness.
Our Community
Services are community-based, family-focused, and culturally sensitive. Clinicians and professionals partner with families and caregivers, using a strength-based approach to treatment, to address children’s and youth’s mental health issues and achieve positive outcomes. This approach is designed to support existing family strengths and empower parents and caregivers to replicate this strength in other areas of family interaction.
This data demonstrates our community’s need for Wellnest’s specialized services provided to children, youth, and their families.
Service Highlights
Children and families engaged with the Family Resource Center, i.e., food, clothing, workshops, etc.
Total number of completed appointments with children, youth, young adults and their family members or guardians
Unduplicated number of children, youth, adults, and family members benefiting from clinical services
Number of services provided in Day Treatment Intensive
Community Partnerships
Wellnest engages in a variety of community collaborations in order to meet the needs of children and their families.
To best meet the mental health needs of children and their families, Wellnest partners with the following organizations:
- California Council of Community Behavioral Health Agencies
- California Department of Rehabilitation
- Department of Public Health
- First 5 LA
- Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce
- Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services
- Los Angeles County Department of Health Services
- Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health
- Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority
- Los Angeles Unified School District – Non-public school contractor and other service projects
- The Association of Community Human Services Agencies
Further, to actively promote the training of mental health professionals, Wellnest engages in training partnerships with the University of California, Los Angeles; University of Southern California; Cal State University Dominguez Hills; Azusa Pacific University; Cambridge University and Columbia University.
