Helping Kids Before It’s Too Late : Mental Health: Parents laud 13-year-old counseling program in Carson schools that barely survived last year’s city budget crunch.

Three years ago, Juan Quezada was notified by Los Angeles school officials that his 10-year-old daughter was behind in her studies at an elementary school in Carson. Teachers reported that the child was withdrawn and was being picked on by her classmates.

Today, Quezada said, his daughter’s grades have improved and she is a much more animated child who now participates in class discussions.

He credits that transformation to the Carson Guidance Program, a 13-year-old program that aims to enhance children’s self-esteem and problem-solving skills and to strengthen family relationships.

Quezada’s daughter received tutoring, one-to-one counseling and tips on working with her peers for about three years. In addition, Quezada and his wife still attend monthly group sessions on parenting skills.

“It’s been tremendous,” he said. “It’s helped all of us.”

For Quezada and many other Carson residents, the guidance program has served to fill a gap in mental health services that school officials said would probably not be met otherwise. Many of the children who are served by the program come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and cannot afford private counseling or therapy, school officials said.

The program serves about 11 of the 16 elementary and junior high schools in Carson and is funded by the city, local businesses and the Los Angeles Unified School District. Last year, about 1,000 students were helped.

The program, designed as a delinquency prevention measure, places professional social workers in Carson schools a minimum of two days a week.

Children are referred to the program by teachers, school administrators or parents. Their problems cover a broad spectrum: delinquent or aggressive behavior, poor self-esteem and depression, sexual and physical abuse.

The children meet in groups or individually with the program’s staff during and after school. They use books that deal with a variety of social and family problems, such as “Daddy Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” about divorce; “Daddy Is a Monster Sometimes,” about parental anger, and “I’m Not So Different,” about dealing with handicaps.

Some of the children also play board games designed to build self-esteem and teach them how to get along in groups.

John Di Cecco, one of two coordinators who run the program, said the children work on social skills and problem-solving.

“We talk about friends, we talk about decision making,” Di Cecco said. “Or if a gang member asks them to join or run an errand, how they should respond, what their options are.”

The program was started in 1977 by the Carson Coordinating Council, a nonprofit community group.

“What everyone felt was needed was intervention early in children’s lives to address problems which may exist, rather than waiting until later in the life cycle, when much more intense guidance is needed to influence them in the right direction,” Di Cecco said.

Elsie Christian, the program’s other coordinator, said that over the years, the problems of the children and families referred to it have become increasingly life-endangering, such as suicidal behavior, substance abuse, family violence, teacher-directed violence, gang affiliation and parental abandonment.

Christian said the makeup of children in bereavement groups has changed from five years ago.

“Most of these kids (in earlier groups), their parents had died from illness,” she said. “Now, we’re seeing a large number of kids whose parents are deceased but victims of violent crimes. Many times it is drug related.”

Marshall Sisca, principal at 232nd Place School, said the program is a boon to his students.

“One of the benefits of this is that students who are in crisis, or in families that are in some type of crisis, can get some kind of assistance,” Sisca said. “At schools like this, where there are about 700 students, to have the services of this kind of a counselor is invaluable.”

Initially, the program was funded by city block grant money and matching district funds to serve four elementary schools and two junior high schools in the city’s redevelopment areas. The program was expanded to five other schools in 1987, partly with money provided from the city’s general fund.

But last year, when Carson’s budget deliberations dragged through September and it was still unclear whether the financially strapped city would be able to provide the funds, the expansion program was left in the lurch, Christian said.

The Carson Coordinating Council stepped in, raising $38,000, or almost half the amount requested from the city. Council President Pilar Perry said several Carson companies and businesses chipped in to salvage the program.

In late November, when a city budget was finally passed, Carson contributed the remaining $40,000.

Without the money from the corporate sector, Christian said, the program could not have returned to the five schools this year. “That would have been devastating,” she said.

As it was, Christian said, the program did not begin in most of the five schools until early November.

An essential component of the program is outreach to families who might not otherwise seek assistance elsewhere in the community, Christian said.

One parent, who did not want his name used, said he was contacted three years ago by school officials concerned about the behavior of his three sons.

“They were very rebellious and misbehaved,” he said. “They were starting to get into gangs.”

The family entered the program and is still involved, he said. He credits the program with having kept his sons out of gangs.

Another parent said that she began the program with her husband three years ago to learn discipline techniques in raising their two sons. Then, when her husband contracted cancer and died more than a year ago, the program helped her and the children come to grips with his death.

The woman, who did not want her name used, said the program has helped her and her children communicate their feelings toward each other more effectively.

“We’re still struggling, but it’s a lot better than what it was,” she said. “There’s a lot less screaming now.”