The Culver City Youth Health Center: They Make Learning Possible

Sarah Carpenter

NOTE: This is the fifth in a series of Culver City Progress Blog articles highlighting local community groups doing good work in Culver City. Please see the postings on the Culver City Sister City Committee here and here, on the Martin Luther King Planning Committee here, and on Shoes for the Homeless here.

The Culver City Youth Health Center combines both Physical and Mental health care for Teen and Young Adults in Culver City. The clinic started in 1985, with the combination of Dr Tom Long from UCLA and our now retired school nurse - Sandy Segal. It grew from one exam room to 3 exam rooms, labs, a doctor’s office and several counseling offices. Over the years, the clinic has also developed the Mental health portion, now with a remarkable group of therapists from The Los Angeles Child Development Center providing individual and group counseling at the clinic. The Physical health part gets a great deal of help from the Venice Family clinic and some support from the School district. The Mental health portion is almost entirely financially supported by a very dedicated and energetic group, “The Friends of the Culver City Youth Health Center”. A very important fund raiser will be taking place Saturday March 10th at the Double Tree Hilton Hotel in Culver City. Superintendent Patricia Jaffe will be honored at this even for her many years of service to the school district.

The Physical health program is open three half days per week. The clinic is staffed primarily by the Venice Family clinic -with a health educator, nurse, a fourth year medical student, and two supervising medical doctors. The clinic provides school entry and sports physicals. The staff also cares for a range of health problems - anemia, asthma, TB treatments, skin disorder and diabetes care. In addition, there are many services related to teen sexuality - abstinence counseling, contraception, pregnancy and STD testing. Since the clinic has started, the school has seen a steady decline in Teen pregnancy and a reduction in absences from school.

The Mental Health part of the program is exceedingly important. Many young people do not have the financial resources to get the counseling they need at this very important time of their lives. The mental health program consists of 8 interns in training, 7 volunteers and 3 supervising Psychologists. It is open 3 ½ days per week. Last year, they provided care for 375 Middle and High school students. The Mental health trainees come form the MSW programs (from Smith college and USC) and Marriage and Family Therapy programs (from Cal State Northridge, Pepperdine and Pacifica Graduate Institute). Depressed and/or anxious students can get individual counseling. In addition, the therapists have an array of Therapy Groups: Reaching life goals for teen girls, Coping with recent immigration, Coping with grief, GLBT support group, Drama and creativity for girls at Culver park, Life Skills group, and a Group on ending Substance Abuse- are a few examples.

A fun way to help the health center is to go to our Online Auction. We have exciting restaurant, vacations, household items , and much more at http://www.biddingforgood.com/CCYHC. Hurry - the auction closes on March 8th.

Interested in attending the fund raiser? It is $85 at ticket, $95 at the door. Contact Sue Mitchell (310) 559-5681 or Andy Alexander (310) 837-5012.

Sarah Carpenter, MD, is a Volunteer Physician at the Culver City Youth Health Center.