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OAKLAND, CA

Safe Passages
250 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza
Suite 6306
Oakland, CA 94612
510.238.6875

Purpose
To expand the capacity of the Oakland community to address the needs of historically underserved communities of color that are exposed to violence.

Interventions
Integrated Case Management/Mental Health Interventions: The program integrates community-based, culturally competent case management with mental health services. Case managers are licensed therapists who help caregivers understand trauma on themselves and their children while assisting with stabilizing the family’s urgent needs. Case management services include assistance with securing public services (medical, housing, transportation, child care, emergency funds, legal, and food), coordinating with other public workers, and supporting the utilization of mental health services. Case managers conduct weekly visits for at least an hour each week over a 6-month period. Multi-language services (in Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian, and Japanese) are provided in the home, in community-based organizations, or in child development centers depending on the family’s preference and safety issues.

Mental health interventions include dyadic therapy and therapeutic playgroups. Two hours of mental health clinical supervision are conducted by a psychotherapist with expertise in children from birth to five years of age who have been exposed to trauma and/or violence.

Cultural Competence Training: Cultural Competency Training is conducted by The Bay Area Network for Diversity Training in Early Childhood (BANDTEC). BANDTEC provides 6 hours of training over a 3-month period, followed by group sessions that use a structured curriculum for early childhood service providers. This Diversity Leadership Training Program ensures ongoing improvement in cultural competence by providing in-depth, agency-specific training and technical assistance to partner agencies.

Promising or Evidence-Based Practices
Integrated Case Management/Mental Health: An Outcomes-Based Approach to Evaluating Service Coordination Models (2004). Roberts, R. National Early Childhood Training Center. http://www.nectac.org.

Child Parent Psychotherapy: Recommendation of Zero to Three. McAlister Groves, B., Lieberman, A., Osofsky, J., and Fenichel, E. Protecting Young Children in Violent Environments—A Framework to Build On.

Culturally Competency Capacity Building: Consensus Statement on Evidence-Based Programs and Cultural Competence (July, 2003). Blase, K. and Fixsen, D. National Implementation Research Network. Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute, Tampa, Florida.