Parental Stress Center

The mission of the Parental Stress Center (PSC) is to empower families and strengthen community in order to prevent child abuse and neglect through counseling, supportive services, youth development, and civic engagement to achieve our vision of nurturing families building safe and vibrant communities.

Description:
Parental Stress Center (PSC) offers four core programs:

Family Unification Services (FUS) supports families who are in the process build positive relationships so that parents and children can live successfully together. Through counseling, parenting and life skills education, and referrals to community organizations, families improve their skills and connect with the resources they need to provide a safe and secure home for their children. Counselors travel to homes located in Allegheny and Westmoreland Counties as determined by referrals from county child welfare agencies.
Visitation Services provides a high security supervised visitation program for families referred by Family Court. These families, many of which have experienced domestic violence, are involved in contentious custody proceedings. Our Safe Visits Safe Families program enables children to have supervised visits with the non-custodial parent within the safe and secure setting of the PSC Family Center. The program is based on research evidence that child well-being is improved by maintaining relationships with both parents.
The Youth Services department offers four out-of-school activities for older youth: a performing arts program, a community service initiative, culinary arts classes, and a mentoring/athletics program. These areas promote self-esteem, foster creative expression, introduce career options, develop citizenship, and encourage positive peer/adult interaction while reducing involvement in risk behaviors. A summer day camp program is also offered for children ages 5 to 13.
Economic Empowerment Initiative (EEI): The purpose of this initiative is to enable low-income families and individuals to increase their financial knowledge, gain access to financial and community resources, and obtain and build financial assets in order to become more self-sufficient. Through the Citizens Leadership Initiative, the program provides leadership training to low-income individuals who want to participate in civic affairs and improve community conditions.

History:
The Parental Stress Center was founded in 1975 by four of Allegheny County's leading child-health and welfare organizations; Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County Children & Youth Services, the Juvenile Court of Allegheny County, and the Children's Home of Pittsburgh. This successful collaboration was driven by a desire to create a coordinated delivery of medical, mental health, welfare and judicial services to effectively impact the development of the young child who was at risk of child abuse and neglect.

To fuel this endeavor, assessment, intervention, education, counseling and support strategies were designed to ensure positive outcomes for children and families receiving services through Parental Stress Center. Over the years these strategies have been further defined to include best practices and outcome-based solutions for families that seek support for the chronic and immediate problems that they are confronted with in today's world. PSC will continue to prioritize the immediate and complex needs of families now and in years to come.

Contact people:

Alana Rykala, Operations Director, (phone), (email)
Wendy Scott, Development Associate, (phone), (email)
Bob Feikema, Program Director, (phone), (email)

Office fax number:

Address:

5877 Commerce Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15206
(See a map)

Web Site: http://www.PSCFamily.net

Directions:

From Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh, follow Bigelow Boulevard. Follow Bigelow Boulevard through two lights. Be in the left lane after the second light. At the third light go straight onto North Craig Street. Stay in the. . . (more)
Nearest Bus Stop: East Liberty Bus Way, 5 minutes minute walk
For maps or information, please see http://www.portauthority.org/ride/ride.html

Miscellaneous Information

Are court referrals welcomed?

Yes

Is act 33/34 clearance required of your volunteers?

Yes

Last updated on February 17, 2009

Agency Details: