Successful Transitions Resource Center

FFAST has been an important program of the Center since 2011. The program supports children and youth, ages 0-21, who are in foster care and live in San Diego County foster family agency homes. They work in the community, providing services to youth and their families to support safety, wellbeing, and permanence. Their services include individual, family and group therapy, skills coaching, advocacy, case management, parenting classes, medication support, wraparound services, and Therapeutic Foster Care.

FFAST supports families in their reunification efforts and families as they move toward adoption. They work to support children and youth during challenging changes and loss. They also work with their clients and families around repairing and building secure attachments to support a child’s sense of safety and belonging. They play and laugh and provide appropriate space for tears. Their team partners with parents to help their clients process the hard and scary things they have experienced so they can live to their fullest potential.

Their amazing team includes therapists, parent and youth partners, Wrap and Therapeutic Foster Care clinicians, as well as a psychiatrist.

The FFAST offices are located:
2655 Camino del Rio N #450,
San Diego, CA 92108

Learn more about the FFAST Program

Our Holiday Heroes drive was a great success! A BIG thank you to our Donation Station partners and community friends for donating and collecting toys, games and gift cards for youth served by the Center!

We are beyond overjoyed by your generous efforts to help make the season bright for the holidays!

The Center has recently partnered with Texas based nonprofit, American Can! Cars for Kids to help bring much needed resources and awareness to the mental health crisis children and youth are experiencing across the nation.

Cars For Kids, a non-profit organization, has been in operation since 1992. Their mission of soliciting vehicle donations and then auctioning them off provide financial support to help kids get back in school to earn their high school diploma.

According to Malcolm Wentworth, CEO, Cars for Kids, “We are extremely excited about the new way we can impact the lives of kids across the country. Our partnership with San Diego Center for Children will help provide additional resources to further their mission of helping kids.”

“We are honored to be the first nonprofit in California to establish a partnership with Cars for Kids. Together, we will continue with our efforts to benefit youth and families struggling with significant mental health challenges,” said Moisés Barón, Ph.D., President & CEO, San Diego Center for Children.

When people think of anxiety, they often think of panic attacks or a racing heart. It can be these things, but not always. Talin Yesaie, North County Academy Program Manager, shares the different ways on how anxiety might look.

Harley is North County Academy’s (NCA) animal assist therapy dog. Harley works with students as a therapeutic interventionist to teach self-regulation, calming and coping strategies and as a stress reliever. He is the hero for “Harley’s Heroes”, a program at NCA which focuses on bullying prevention and recognizes students that stand up against bullying by being an upstander vs. a bystander to end bullying.

Harley works Monday, Wednesday and Friday and although he hates the car ride, he loves arriving to the school and saying hello to all of the staff members and kids.

How long have you worked at the Center?
Harley has been part of the Center since he was 5 months old and passed the Good Citizen test in December 2017.

What is your favorite snack?
Harley’s favorite human snacks are little pieces of chicken or steak. He also loves watermelon and crunchy dog treats.

What is your favorite toy?
Harley’s favorite toys are anything that squeaks. He enjoys finding the squeaker and pulling the stuff out of toys. Right now his favorite toy is a bone and a dog puppet that looks just like him.

What do you like to do in your spare time?
He loves to go for walks, hikes and take naps in the sun. Harley loves to snuggle against people and sleep only if he is touching someone. He is gentle and sweet, and he matches the energy of the person in front of him.

Nearly 135 years ago, a powerful idea to create change for those less fortunate in San Diego was manifested by a dedicated group of philanthropic women who came together to give their skills, time and money. Their hunger for change was due to many women being abandoned, widowed or living in poverty as result of San Diego’s increase in population and lack of government services.

In 1887, The Women’s Home Association was founded by investing $1,000 in a home in downtown’s Gaslamp District. Efforts quickly grew to caring for homeless, abused and orphaned children, and The Women’s Home became what we now know as the San Diego Center for Children.

As San Diego’s oldest children’s nonprofit, the San Diego Center for Children has evolved to become a nationally accredited organization supporting children and families struggling with mental, emotional and behavioral health challenges.
Today our programs range from outpatient to in-home mental health services and residential treatment. We offer mental health services in schools, pediatric practices, and in our own Non-public school, the San Diego Center for Children Academy.

After 135 years, the Center has grown to 8 program locations across the county empowering the lives of over 1000 youth and family members every day!

THANKS TO YOU, a generous matching $50,000 gift and the overwhelming support of our community, we successfully raised over $250,000 during our year-end campaign to support.

As we look to the New Year ahead, and celebrate our 135th year in the community, we do so aware of the many challenges our youth and families are still facing. All of the programs at the Center have experienced an increased demand for mental health services and we remain committed to providing the best possible care.

Your generosity allows us to continue to work with youth and families who are struggling with significant mental health challenges and to provide them with the necessary services needed to be successful.

Please support these much needed services today!