LAGUNA BEACH : Officials Praise School’s Mental Health Clinic

School officials are hailing a children’s mental health clinic that opened at Thurston Middle School recently as a positive aftereffect of last year’s firestorm.

A longstanding plan to establish a permanent counseling center for local youth was kicked into high gear after the fire. The blaze, which damaged or destroyed 441 homes in and around Laguna Beach, created considerable stress for many youngsters.

Since then, the district established a permanent clinic at Thurston to serve the continuing mental health needs of the district’s students and their families. The Orange County Health Care Agency staffs the clinic in return for the donated space.

“The permanent clinic will serve a variety of counseling needs,” said Nancy Hubbell, district psychologist and director of special services. “It’s not just fire-related.”

As part of the project, district workers plan to create a manual and training program for other districts that will detail what Laguna Beach school administrators and counselors have discovered about post-disaster counseling.

“We’ve learned some things we’d like to be able to share,” Hubbell said.

Although the building has been in place since the start of the school year, the formal opening--attended by county Supervisor Thomas F. Riley and state Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach)--took place Oct. 28.

The building is being called the John E. Martin Youth and Family Counseling Center in honor of the head of Taco Bell Corp., for his ongoing financial support of the project.

Local fund-raising efforts generated $57,000 to refurbish the portable building for the clinic and move it to the middle school campus. Martin has given $12,500 and has pledged to raise $25,000 a year for the next three years.