03 Dec REACH Healthcare Foundation Awards $50,000 Grant to KidsTLC, Inc.

KidsTLC, Inc. recently received a grant for $50,000 from the REACH Healthcare Foundation to support core operating expenses.

Core operating support from the REACH Foundation allows KidsTLC to use the funds where they are most needed and keeps our programs operating and sustainable.

KidsTLC is well-equipped to serve and impact the lives of vulnerable youth and their families. At the heart of KidsTLC’s core values is the drive and desire to constantly improve programming, especially when a gap in services presents itself in our community. We increase access through partnerships in the community and by continuing to seek out ways we can extend our expertise and services into the community (both by placing providers at off site locations and offering training to youth serving professions such as medical professionals and educators).

We also contribute to increasing access to health care for vulnerable populations through the development of our own unique strategy, called the “Phoenix Connections System of Care,” that provides a continuum of service levels within the agency. It extends services for which community mental health centers see a need but are currently unable to provide. The creation of these targeted “bi-directional” programs within KidsTLC allows children and families to access multiple points of entry into the most appropriate level of care and have the flexibility to move up or down the levels of intensity as they need. This system eliminates the numerous transitions between programs and agencies that children who have attachment trauma often experience. It allows our clients the opportunity to stay under the care of familiar KidsTLC staff at familiar facilities. This system reduces gaps in service, saves the state money, improves health outcomes, keeps kids in their homes or foster homes, and reduces recidivism (repeated entry) into psychiatric residential facilities.

Since 1972, KidsTLC has provided a safe, accessible, and healing community for kids and families.  KidsTLC has continued to grow over the past 46 years while maintaining its focus on child welfare and mental health.  The agency has seen tremendous growth and transformation over the years. Today, KidsTLC’s largest program is the 61 bed Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility (PRTF) Phoenix Program serving youth ages 6–18 who have been victims of intense traumatic experiences and are diagnosed with one or more mental illnesses. The agency also provides other levels of mental health care through the Lotus Outpatient Clinic, an Intensive Evening Outpatient program, and the Sanctuary, a residential respite program. KidsTLC also operates a highly successful Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) Autism Clinic. Programs are accredited through 2021 by the Council on Accreditation (COA).  In addition, KidsTLC recently announced it is the only mental health provider in the world to be fully certified in Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP).