Clinical Services: BAYC offers a variety of clinical services to support youth with behavioral and emotional difficulties as they navigate the many challenges of transitioning into adulthood. For many youth, counseling and therapeutic relationships provide the only context for exploring the confusing issues of identity and struggles to define a sense of agency. Evidence-based or informed practices such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Motivational Interviewing and TIP (Transition to Independence Process) are utilized regularly as are in-vivo skills development and individual and group therapy sessions.
Services are fully integrated into all of our housing programs and are also available to aftercare program participants and through collaborations with community partners. All training, supervision, consultation, and treatment interventions are informed by a multicultural and multi-systemic understanding of client circumstance and context, difficulties, barriers and strengths.
Our services are provided wherever youth are most comfortable: in the community (schools, job sites, homes, etc) or at our office in downtown Hayward.
Housing Services: BAYC offers a continuum of housing programs for current and former foster youth aged 15-24. From a highly supported congregate model to apartments scattered through-out Alameda County, these programs offer youth a safe place to call home while receiving services designed to prepare them for long-term economic and social stability.
Life Skills: BAYC's program participants are offered a variety of learning experiences geared toward acquiring the knowledge and understanding of core life skills that are essential to living independently. Youth work with staff to identify goals and develop skills related to employment, education, independent living, personal effectiveness and well-being, and community-life functioning. Emphasis is placed on experiential learning rather than the traditional classroom style, so youth have the opportunity to practice life skills in a real-world environment.
LGBQTI Community Center: Our Space is BAYC’s community center for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning (LGBTQ) youth ages
14 – 21. Our Space offers safe space for LGBTQ youth to explore their identities, socialize, build community, develop leadership skills, and receive non-stigmatizing, culturally competent mental health services. We recognize that LGBTQ homeless youth and youth in out-of-home care often slip through the cracks in the service delivery of mainstream LGBTQ organizations due to lack of awareness regarding the unique needs of these populations. Our Space holds the needs and the strengths of these youth as primary and provides real opportunities for non-traditional youth leaders to create change in their communities and beyond.
Our Space draws on best practice recommendations for working with LGBTQ youth to support the growth and progress of those we serve. To refer a youth to Our Space mental health services, email Stephanie Perron at stephanie@baycyouth.org
