About the Center for Family Resilience
While seeing patients in our primary care medical home, we recognized the urgent need to support the relationships between parents and young children that were often harmed by the trauma that parents, children or both experienced. While our clinicians recognized these difficulties, they did not have the training and capacity to fully address them. Further, there were very few mental/behavioral health services that focused on young children.
Hence, the Center for Family Resilience was created as a service where parents and their children could receive trauma-based therapeutics in an effort to help heal the relationships. After receiving a full evaluation by the Families First team and the child psychologist, eligible families receive an appropriate therapy such as Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP) or Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT).
The Center for Family Resilience (CFR) has made significant strides in supporting families through comprehensive programs and partnerships. The center is located within a Families First service site, which is staffed by child and family therapists, a psychologist, social workers, child and adult psychiatrists, peer support/community liaison staff, and a coordinator. Referrals can be made by pediatricians and residents from the Hughes Spalding Primary Care Clinic. We are pleased to report that since our first family was served in August 2023, we have provided comprehensive services to thirty-four families. These services begin with the initial referral from outside practices or agencies and continue through intake by the Families First staff where a comprehensive family assessment is completed, evaluation by our psychologist to determine the best disposition for the family, and initiation of dyadic therapy. Our families have often experienced severe trauma which has contributed to the breakdown of the parent-child relationship.