Marysville, CA

VCSS Marysville is located in northern California and primarily serves the two counties of Sutter and Yuba. Marysville is the county seat for Yuba County and dates back to the Gold Rush days of California. The city is 35 miles north of Sacramento. Together with its "sister-city" Yuba City, the area is one of the leading agri-business centers of California. Outdoor enthusiasts can enjoy hunting, fishing, boating, swimming, golf, tennis and many other sports in Marysville and the nearby countryside and mountains.

VCSS Marysville provides community-based mental health services to children and their families residing in Sutter or Yuba counties (foster children may reside out of county). The program utilizes strength-based, systemic, and developmental paradigms, along with family systems, solution focused, and cognitive behavioral theories. The majority of direct service interventions are provided in the family's home. A limited amount of indirect services are provided in schools and other community settings for the purpose of breaking ingrained behavioral patterns and facilitating access to community resources.

Primary and Supplemental Services

• Case Management
• Individual Therapy
• Medication Evaluation and Monitoring
• Group Therapy and Group Rehabilitation
• Mental Health Rehabilitation (with concurrent parental training)
• Crisis Intervention and 24 hour On-call Support
• Family Therapy
• Parent Training and Support Groups
• Collateral (e.g. teachers) Consultation
• Co-Occurring Disorder Treatment (MH and substance abuse)
• Psychological Testing
• Therapeutic Behavioral Services

CANS: VCSS uses the assessment instrument "Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths" to determine service intensity. This instrument is completed as part of the assessment process and updated every 6 months, or more as needed.

Service Frequency: Services are provided a minimum of 1 time per week up to many hours per day and must include parental attendance and involvement.

Service Focus: Services begin with a comprehensive assessment of the child's needs, family dynamics, and parental skills and needs. A specific written treatment plan, which clearly identifies problems and solutions, is developed and then updated annually. Treatment is focused on both child behavioral improvement and the development of parental skills and school system support that will sustain that improvement.

Length of Service: Services typically range from 6 Months to 2 years but the length of treatment is individualized and clients are discharged when they meet their goals.

The VCSS Marysville clinical staff is supervised by masters or doctoral level, licensed Clinical Supervisors. Each staff member meets a minimum of 3 hours per week with their supervisor. There is a Child Psychiatrist available to clients for medication evaluation and support. Staff is highly trained upon hire as well as receiving a minimum of 26 hours of specialized clinical training per year of employment to ensure up-to-date approaches and appropriate, relevant continuing education. 

Along with the services listed above, VCSS Marysville provides numerous innovative mental health service approaches. An innovative family education forum on a weekly basis called Open Center is one of these practices. Trained facilitators interview families in front of an audience. Audience members interact with the facilitator and the family and offer strategies to improve family life. Workshops are also provided on a monthly basis and include presentations and discussions on a wide range of mental health, parenting, and family education topics.

VCSS identifies state of the art treatment practices that have demonstrated positive outcomes, based on empirical evidence. A variety of these practices are provided by certified staff, in order to meet clients' unique treatment needs. Evidence Based Practices examples include empirically-proven skill development groups, animal-assisted therapy, trauma treatment programs, parenting curricula, treatment of co-occurring disorders, and specialized therapy programs.

VCSS Marysville strongly supports family inclusion and maintains a broad definition of family, which includes blood relations and those persons who are committed to the long-term care of the child. The role of services is to increase parental skills (so that they can manage the family system and increase their children's skills) and improve access to resources. The Family Conference is a team driven process bringing together the family, child, natural supports, agencies and community services to develop, implement and evaluate the individualized treatment and service plan. The overall goal of the process is to give family members access, voice, and choice in the identification of their needs and concerns. The process generates options and strategies for meeting the needs and concerns of the family. Through the process, family members are taught a strategy to meet their future needs, after the professionals are gone from their lives.