Dedicated to improving the lives 
of at-risk children, youth, and their 
families in Alameda County.
Fall E-Newsletter
September 2013
Message from our Executive Director

 
David S. Theis
AMC Excecutive Director

 

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Ann Martin Center as a premier agency for psychotherapy, educational therapy, and professional training.

 

Our success over time is the result of the incredible devotion of our staff, board, donors, foundations, and community partners who are passionate about helping vulnerable youth and families.

 

Alameda County is exceptional in California and the United States in its extraordinary multicultural diversity and exemplary generosity of human spirit.  There are over 11,000 nonprofit organizations working to enhance lives and the environment in our county.

 

Ann Martin Center is a part of the Alameda Council of Community Mental Health Agencies.  We are an essential thread in the safety net for low-income families seeking mental health counseling and educational support. 

 

Our clinicians, educational therapists, administrative staff, and board share a deep belief that prevention and early intervention programs can transform lives for the better.

 

We've accomplished much in the past fifty years... and our star is rising.

 

Headquartered in a new 15,000 square foot facility, we will assist over 1,000 families annually through 30,000 treatment hours. 

 

Based on feedback surveys, 95% of our clients say they got the help they wanted here.

 

Meanwhile, we're training more and more graduate students in the challenging specialty of intensive psychotherapy.  These students are expanding our capacity for outreach to youth.

 

In the months ahead, we'll be introducing an exciting new Parent Education Program with the goal of offering lectures, workshops, discussion groups, and individual consultation that promote parenting skills, strong families, and healthy child development.

 

It's important to remind ourselves that behind all the good news, there is the extremely difficult, often painful, day-to-day work of seeing kids who have endured terrible experiences.  Exposure to poverty, violent crime, failing schools, and family breakdown takes a tragic toll on children.  It's also traumatic for our therapists who need to constantly regain hope in the face of what can appear to be limitless adversity.  There's no question that our clinicians and educational therapists engage in heroic work.

 

One of the beauties of Ann Martin Center is the commitment to ongoing education.  Case supervisors and seminar leaders help support the work of our staff.  We're incredibly fortunate to have such a special teaching environment that is permeated with compassion and perseverance.

 

As part of our culture of care, our board of directors is integral to determining the strategic course for our future while ensuring the wise, responsible, and efficient use of resources in the present.

 

Leaving our mothership home clinic in Piedmont after 42 years has been a trying transition, but in the months and years to come, our new Center will be a solid foundation for exciting growth ahead.

 

Sincerely, 

 

David S. Theis, DMH

Executive Director

Learning Program: Meet the staff
Kicking off the new school year!

Learning Staff Photo

 Our staff from the Learning Program in the front lobby 

 

The Educational Therapy staff at Ann Martin Center helps children cultivate the knowledge, skills and abilities to be prepared for success in school as well as develop life-long skills for learning.   

 

Students with learning disabilities may experience frustration, shame and low-esteem that undermine their confidence in school. Over the last 12 years the prevalence of autism has increased by 289.5% while ADHD has seen a 33% increase in U.S. children ages 3 to 17 years according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, National Center for Health Statistics, 1997-2008). These children, often with above-average intelligence and significant academic potential, instead turn to risk behaviors including substance abuse, juvenile delinquency, chronic absences, and school dropout. Ann Martin Center ensures that every child has the chance to discover his or her abilities, develop emotional resilience, work toward school achievement and successfully transition to adulthood.  

 

Children come to Ann Martin Center with varying degrees of mild to moderate developmental, neurological or learning disabilities. Students may be identified with a learning disability by a teacher, psychologist, speech and language specialist or school personnel. Working closely with students ranging from first grade to college level, our educational therapists conduct on-on-one sessions, creating individual educational programs that can improve students' attitudes towards learning, increase self-esteem, and promote positive social-emotional development. Our therapists develop trusting relationships with our clients as they build upon each of our student's individual abilities and unique learning styles.

 

For more information, please contact Betty Peterson, MEd, E/T P Learning Program Director at [email protected] or call 510.655.7880 ext. 370.
Save the Date! Open House
Take a tour of Ann Martin Center's new location
open house front with border

We're pleased to invite you to attend our grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony at Ann Martin Center's new Emeryville clinic on Friday, September 20, 2013 from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. 
 

 

We are gathering to honor our donors, funders, community partners, board and staff for all their dedication throughout the years. This event is also to mark the grand opening of the new facility.

 

During the evening, we will serve pizza from Fist of Flour and beer from Linden Street Brewery. We'll also lead walking tours through our new space.

 

Bob Canter, President of the Emeryville Chamber of Commerce will be hosting a ribbon cutting ceremony so plan to arrive by 5:30pm!  We are grateful to partner with the Emeryville Chamber of Commerce, City of Emeryville, and business partners for this milestone event. 

 

RSVP by Tuesday, September 10

Contact Nu-Nhi Nguyen, our Development Associate[email protected] or 510.655.7880 ext. 304

 

Click here for map and directions to our new facility.

Clinical Training Program 2013-2014
New! Fourth Year Practicum 
1st Year Practicum Program Trainees 
 
In its 50-year history, the Ann Martin Center has grown tremendously from its roots as a small teaching clinic grounded in the tradition of clinical excellence. Our training program provides high quality training to mental health professionals specializing in child, adolescent and family therapy. Ann Martin Center's advanced clinical training program is a robust, interdisciplinary program grounded in psychodynamic psychotherapy and current best practices in child and adolescent psychotherapy.  We offer one of the most vigorous clinical training programs in the San Francisco Bay Area and are a member of the California Psychology Internship Council (CAPIC) and Bay Area Practicum Information Collaborative (BAPIC). 

 

We have achieved the highest standards in training due to the unwavering commitment of our staff. Our supervisory and leadership team is comprised of experienced staff members and community consultants who have played an integral role in training programs at the Center for many years. The quality and frequency of case supervision, didactic seminars and case conferences provides the framework for an in-depth, intensive training experience for our trainees. With a team of nearly 100 clinicians, supervisors, instructors and consultants, Ann Martin Center offers its trainees a strong network of in-house and community support, containment and a hands on learning experience for students seeking to specialize in child and adolescent  psychotherapy.

 

 1st Year Clinical Internship Trainees

 

We currently offer training opportunities at the Practicum, Internship and Post-graduate level. Our trainees are a diverse group comprised of pre- and post-doctoral psychology students as well as post-masters level clinicians in the fields of social work and marriage and family therapy working towards state licensing.  We are proud to welcome- and welcome back- our 35 1st and 2nd year trainees to the 2013-14 training year. We look forward to another exciting year of professional growth and development.  

 

For more information, please contact Beth Berkowitz, Clinical Program Assistant Director at [email protected] or 510.655.7880 ext. 348.  

Board Spotlight 
Betty Simpson: Over 30 years of dedication

Betty Simpson
Member, AMC Board of Directors
 
I have had the privilege of serving on the Board of the Ann Martin Center since 2002 and was president of the Board from 2005-2010. But my association with the Center goes back to 1982.
 
My family relocated from New York to the Bay Area in 1981. In New York I had received my Masters in Social Work from Columbia University specializing in working with children. 
Several years later, when we moved to California, I began to learn of the work that Ann Martin Center was doing. I was especially intrigued to discover how they were working with the whole child, offering both psychotherapy and learning therapy. And I was thrilled when they hired me! 
 
Over the next several years I worked part time at the Center as a psychotherapist.  By the late 1980s I opened up my own psychotherapy practice but always stayed connected to the Ann Martin Center by formally attending lectures or staying in touch with colleagues. When I was asked to join the Board in 2002 I did not hesitate to get involved in this new capacity. Over the years I had served on other Boards (The Lake School and the Piedmont Choir) and knew that if you were passionate about the mission of the organization, then serving on its Board could be tremendously rewarding. 
 
Serving on the Board of Ann Martin Center has certainly proven this to be true. In my 11 years on the Board I have watched the Center continue to grow and flourish.  I think the budget has grown 6 or 7 fold, the number of families we serve has greatly expanded, we now offer services in 9 public schools as well as seeing families at the Center, and in March 2013 we moved to our new home in Emeryville where our clinic based services can now be offered under one roof.  But not only have I seen the Center grow.  I have seen it continue to improve. 
 
I am so proud to be connected to such a fantastic organization. Soon my time will come to cycle off the Board as I will have "termed out" but I cannot imagine my connection with the organization to end.  They will not get rid of me that easily!  But I will have more time to devote to my hobbies which often happen in the Lake Tahoe area where my husband and I have a second home. I look forward to spending  a lot of time skiing in the winter and hiking, biking and kayaking in the summer.
In This Issue
Our Board of Directors 2013
Hill Blackett, III
President 

Linda Saag Baker, MS 
Vice President
 
Lilly Krenn
Secretary

Peter Laufenberg, JD
Treasurer

MaryAnn Pearson

Marian Rothschild

Betty Simpson, LCSW

John White, PhD
Our Committed Staff

Executive Team 

 

Executive Director
  
Administrative Manager
  
Laurie Lober, LCSW
Clinical Director
   
Development Director
  
Learning Director
  
Chief Financial Officer
"My son is able to express feelings and ideas through play and we, as parents, are learning how to support him." 
- Parent, Client Feedback Survey 2012
Professional Development Lecture Series Fall 2013
Ann Martin Center sponsors lectures or contemporary research, theory, and technique relevant to educators and child mental health professionals. Speakers reflect diverse expertise in the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of learning, emotional, behavioral, developmental, and school-related problems. The series is offered as a free service to the professional community and all presenters have donated their time.
 
 
Upcoming Lecture in October

Psychotherapy Process and Outcome Research

Presenter: Meghan Tiedemann-Fuller, PhD
When: Friday, October 11, 2013
Time: 12:30 - 2 p.m.
Location: 1375 55th Street, Emeryville

As psychotherapy research has developed and become more complex and nuanced, its significance to clinicians has increased. Recent studies have given us greater insight into how therapist and patient impact one another, what types of interventions or aspects of therapy lead to short- and long-term changes, and how psychotherapy affects the brain. This presentation will provide an overview of psychotherapy process and outcome research, with an emphasis on its relevance to clinical practice. Clinical dilemmas with regard to gathering data and patient and therapist participation in research will be discussed.

 

Meghan Tiedemann-Fuller, PhD is a fellow of the Anna Freud Centre Research Training Program at the Yale Child Study Center and of the American Psychoanalytic Association. She is in private practice in San Francisco and Napa, where she works with children, adolescents, and adults.

 
"Our therapist is excellent, caring, and goes above and beyond to help our son." - Parent, Client Feedback Survey 2012
Donations Fiscal Year 2012-2013
We are so grateful to all the individuals, corporations and businesses that supported us through financial and in-kind gifts last year. 

Without you we would not be able to do what we do best here at Ann Martin Center: improve the social and emotional well-being of children and empower the parents who care for them.

Your commitment year after year allows us to provide the psychological and educational therapeutic services for the underserved community who are unable to afford the needed services.

Thank you for being a part of our family at Ann Martin Center and walking with us towards bringing wholeness to the lives of our clients and their families.

"At the start, the weight of the world was on me. But meetings with our therapist help me feel as light as grandma's homemade biscuits." - Parent, Client Feedback Survey 2012
Our 50th Anniversary Gala was a success!
50th Anniversary Gala
Visit our flickr page for more pictures from the Gala
View our photos on flickr
Our New Location
Ann Martin Center
1375 55th Street
Emeryville, CA 94608
Tel. (510) 655-7880
Fax (510) 655-3379 

 
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