Center Counsels Troubled Youths

When it was created 35 years ago, the Youth Service Center of Riverside intended to address one burgeoning problem: substance abuse among school-age children.

The center now has a staff of 98 and a $2.8-million annual budget that reflects the growing need for youth counselors and the services they provide. Counselors cover a range of issues, including drug and alcohol abuse, peer violence, child abuse, suicide and family strife.

“Kids are dealing with more serious issues at earlier ages,” said Harry Freedman, the center’s executive director. “The level and intensity of these issues continues to increase, and the stress on families is significantly greater than it was when we opened.”

The center received a $15,000 donation from the 2004 Times Holiday Campaign directed to its outreach programs. With links to 100 elementary, middle and high schools, the center places some of its 35 counselors one day a week at its affiliated schools to uncover problems and assist students.

“There’s a huge need for what we do,” Freedman said. “Schools can’t afford enough counselors for what we do, and critical interventions for children and their families are necessary. The real goal of the outreach program is to address problems at the earliest possible time, instead of waiting for that problem to become more serious or expensive.”

The center also provides outpatient therapy for children and families, a child-care center and parenting classes, Freedman said.

These programs are intended to help families better handle stress from work, traffic and problems at home.

Recently, counselors were called upon to defuse a fight between two seventh-grade girls and help sixth-graders deal with the death of a classmate, Freedman said. Parents of the sixth-grade students also sought advice in how to help their children cope with the loss.

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HOW TO GIVE

The annual Holiday Campaign is part of the Los Angeles Times Family Fund, a fund of the McCormick Tribune Foundation.

Donations supporting the campaign to help disadvantaged children and youths should be sent to L.A. Times Holiday Campaign, File 56986, Los Angeles, CA 90074-6986. Do not send cash.

Credit card donations can be made at latimes.com/holidaycampaign. Information: (800) LATIMES, Ext. 75771.