Community and Court Schools
The San Mateo County community schools serve students on probation or who have been expelled or suspended from their home schools. The court schools serve youth incarcerated at juvenile hall, the girls’ camp, and the boys’ ranch. CEC operates in eight community and court schools, in the cities of East Palo Alto, Redwood City, San Bruno, San Mateo, San Carlos, and Daly City.

The Therapy
Through the therapeutic process resiliency-building factors are enhanced in the youth, encouraging internal growth and personal development. The therapist builds trust-based relationships with the students, in which they validate the students’ realities, help them identify their strengths, and develop compassion for themselves around their current situations. Through the therapeutic process the students explore and develop healthier strategies and behaviors for getting their needs met and for managing the fear and anger related to the extreme challenges in their daily lives. Given the opportunity in therapy, almost all of the students rise to higher expectations and more positive definitions of themselves, raising their self-esteem. The therapists encourage the students to utilize this different sense of themselves and new ways of relating in other areas of their lives, allowing them to develop new and more effective relationships, (especially with teachers, parents, and others students). This creates in them a sense of empowerment and an acknowledgement that they can affect change in their lives. In these ways, the therapy provided by CCP makes youth more resilient in the face of the continued trauma that they incur on a daily basis, giving them powerful internal tools to navigate through their lives.
This is what is unique about CEC’s approach in supporting at-risk youth in our community. CCP encourages the development of internalized motivation and drivers in youth, rather than focusing on simply behaviour modifications.

Systemic Approach
CCP deepens the impact of the therapy services by providing resiliency consultation to school staff in support of creating resiliency building environments that empower students. Teachers, Para-educators, and Probation Staff at the Court and Community Schools have few resources to deal with their students’ social and emotional needs, such as helping students resolve difficult issues, learn new ways to cope with ongoing traumas in their lives, or understand how to manage the negative forces of their peer groups. CCP inspires hopefulness in the staff and offers them the skills and understanding to build relationships that facilitate positive changes in the youth they serve. We also actively reach out to other agencies to leverage the impact of our services and collaborate often with other providers.

Unique Collaboration
The effective history of our Collaborative Counseling Program reflects the strength of our thirteen-year partnership with the San Mateo County Office of Education (SMCOE) and the San Mateo Juvenile Probation Department (SMCJPD). The nature of this collaboration is defined by a willingness to facilitate services, trusting relationships and a body of practical expertise in working with youth on probation built through hands-on experience, over many years.

Impact
Information from the San Mateo Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act (JJCPA) Report for Fiscal Year 2006-2007 found the following positive trends in the youth that CEC supports:
- Increases in completion of probation, and restitution; and
- Increases in the average scores for positive attitudes toward future goals.

Clinical Staff
CCP works with the Wright Institute of Psychology and other esteemed graduate programs to provide quality therapy to youth in need and excellent internships for students in the fields of psychology and social work. Counseling sessions are led by graduate student interns, who receive on-site supervision.