We provide unique and progressive clinical and forensic mental health services, to the children, families and communities in need in northern New Jersey. We're an unseen corps of 30 full-time mental health professionals, working alongside hundreds of professionals and dozens of volunteers and ordinary people trying to give a voice to the voiceless.We're advocates by nature: social service experts, psychologists, social workers, retired law enforcement, volunteer legal experts, concerned citizens, and community organizers. We help every day … in a thousand ways. We don't simply navigate the existing system deftly, we bring innovative ideas, valuable insight and pro-active solutions. Specifically, we help children and their families. The child is our client and the child and his or her family get 100% of our resources, effort and experience.
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Services Offered
INDIVIDUAL, COUPLES, AND FAMILY THERAPY - The Center provides a full range of individual, family, and couples therapy for children and adults. It has experience with working in various issues affecting people today, such as depression, anxiety, substance abuse, stress management, and adjustment difficulties.
Anger Management Group - CEC has a 10-week program that provides education and therapeutic services to those struggling with managing their anger. This program will consist of 10 topic-guided group sessions, such as coping skills, feelings identification, positive communication, conflict resolution, and relaxation techniques. The group meets once per week, for 60 minutes, and is facilitated by CEC staff using a group counseling model. Education and personal growth are facilitated through group feedback, facilitator feedback, and homework. Each group will be therapeutic while using psychoeducational techniques.
CHILD MALTREATMENT PROGRAM- The Center provides mental health services, including evaluations, therapeutic supervised visitation, and therapy, to at-risk families involved with the court and/or the Division of Child Protection & Permanency (DCP&P), which relies on and trust the quality of CEC's services. The Center's service model is consistent with the DCF (Division of Children and Families) Case Practice Model, which emphasizes family engagement is a core strategy in all of our programs. In addition, The Center is familiar with the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) and its recommended timeframes.
Therapeutic Supervised Parenting Program (TSPP) - In this program, weekly parent-child visits are provided for parents whose children are separated from them. Following the parent/child visit, a therapeutic parenting session is conducted to enhance parenting skills and reduce future risk to the child. Families are often referred through Family Court.
COMPREHENSIVE ADOLESCENT PROGRAM (CAP) - This program was developed as a joint endeavor between CEC and the Youth Services Commission with grant funding provided by the New Jersey Juvenile Justice Commission (JJC). CAP offers community-based case management, individual and group psychoeducational services to high risk juveniles and their families involved with the Superior Court, Family Division, Family Crisis Intervention Unit (FCIU), Division of Child Protection and Permanency (DCP&P), Caring Partners (CMO), or other community service providers. CAP provides adolescents with a combination of case management and community-based rehabilitative services to prevent their involvement/re-involvement with juvenile court and/or the detention center. This program offers individual psychoeducation and six psychoeducational groups including: Positive Decision Making, Healthy Choices, Coping Skills, Conflict Resolution, Job Skills, and Life Skills. Program case managers provide comprehensive services including devising individual case plans and providing family support. CAP also provides supervised community service for adolescents to complete court-ordered community service hours on site. Community referrals are welcome.
Fees and Payment
Some insurance plans are accepted as we asll we offer a sliding fee scale program which is based on income and other factor. We are as well a nonprofit agency.
Services Offered To: Adults Couples Teens Children
Payment: Sliding Scale
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One quick last question. Who was seeking counseling today?
Do you know the reason they are not accepting clients?
A community counseling agency is a group therapy practice that offers affordable mental health services. Most are independent non-profit agencies, state agencies, or publicly-funded agencies. A few may restrict who is eligible for services, so it is a good idea to check when you call.
Community counseling agencies are generally more affordable than other therapy providers, but how much more affordable they are will depend on whether you qualify for a discount or sliding scale fee (or if they accept your insurance). Many, but not all, have a policy that they won't turn away anyone due to inability to pay. You should ask about their fees when you first call.
Expect to talk to kind people who want to help you find the care you need. Most community agencies strive to connect you with a live person within 24 hours, if not immediately. If you're asked to hold or leave a message, don't give up; just leave a message and wait. You should hear back pretty quickly.
Most agencies try to set up an initial assessment appointment within a week (some do within 24 hours), though the waitlist to start therapy is usually longer—about a few weeks on average. If you're not eligible or if the agency is not right for you, it's usually still worth it to call or drop in, because staff are knowledgeable about local options and can often refer you to one.