Programs for Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Adult Group Programs

Programs benefit adults with developmental disabilities and co-occurring mental health needs to enhance independent skills, gain adaptive coping strategies, improve self-regulation capacity and increase tolerance to stress.

Services are provided in English and Spanish by a team of specialists in the area of developmental disabilities and mental health. Adult programs are for individuals 17 years of age to later adulthood. These groups meet Wednesdays or Thursdays 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Woman with special needs smiling with arms crossedFull range of services

  • Group psychotherapy
  • Rehabilitation mental health groups
  • Individual psychotherapy
  • Psychiatric consultation
  • Medication follow-up
  • Family therapy

Program goals

  • Enhance mental and emotional health coping capacities
  • Advance functional independent skills, self-advocacy and communication abilities
  • Promote community integration and adaptive skills
  • Strengthen problem-solving and conflict resolution skills
  • Empower management of anxiety, depression and impulses for optimal mental health functioning
  • Build effective interactional and interpersonal skills and strengthen emotional regulation capacity
  • Improve overall coping competency

Children's Services

Comprehensive mental health services are available for children from birth through 21 years. They focus on addressing the full scope of mental health diagnoses, comprehensive collaboration with community partners to meet whole-person needs, and individualized service to address family, school, community engagement and personal growth needs.

Services include:

  • Individual and family therapy
  • Psychiatric consultations
  • Medication management
  • Group therapy
  • Parenting education
  • Collaborations with community partners

Eligibility

Regional Center consumers who present with co-occurring mental health needs are eligible for services. Individuals must meet criteria for both a diagnosis of a developmental disability as per Regional Center eligibility standards and present with co-existing mental health symptomatology.

Philosophical Orientation

Cognitive, behavioral and family systems intervention approaches are applied in addressing coping skills. Focus includes attention to emotional, interpersonal, physical, environmental, social and vocational stressors.

The focus incorporates a whole-person approach to draw out strengths, redirect challenges and actively collaborate with multiple service providers and community partners to maintain consistency and integration of supports.

Collaboration with systems interacting with the client include:

  • Family members
  • Regional Centers
  • Independent living supports
  • Supported living partners
  • Job coaching agencies
  • Specialty Day Program providers
  • Physicians
  • Behavior interventionists
  • Companions
  • Schools

Staff

The program is staffed with an interdisciplinary team of professionals with extensive experience working with special needs populations of all ages.

The staff consists of:

  • Licensed psychotherapist
  • Psychiatrist
  • Recreational therapists
  • Recreational therapy aides
  • Mental health rehabilitation specialists

Other Services Available

Individual therapy

Available on an as-needed basis. Individual therapy may include crisis intervention, brief individual and collateral therapy for children, adolescents and adults with special needs who are clients of the Regional Center system.

Family therapy

Full spectrum of diagnostic presentations are received for treatment intervention utilizing cognitive behavioral, interpersonal psychotherapy and family system perspectives. Interventions are used to address family relational issues, mental health informed behavioral challenges, sibling conflicts, life transitions and independent living issues.

Medication evaluation and management

Services are for individuals presenting with symptoms that could benefit from psychiatric consultation, intervention and monitoring.

Medication monitoring can be provided on a monthly basis in conjunction with ongoing individual or group therapy participation.

Fees and Funding Sources

The cost of services may be met through Medi-Cal.

Funding source for programs meeting the needs of individuals diagnosed with a developmental and intellectual disability at Providence Saint John's Child and Family Development Center includes the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health.

Contact Us

Call us for intake: 310-829-8921.