With highly trained bilingual and bicultural therapists, The Child Center of NY’s Asian Outreach Program breaks down language barriers and stigma to reach Asian children and families with mental health and substance abuse services. The AOP’s approach is culturally nuanced and based on education and outreach that eases the stigma still surrounding mental health and substance use treatment in traditional Asian cultures. All of our therapists have experienced the trauma of immigration themselves and are steeped in the culture and language of their clients.

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Positive word of mouth has spread in Queens’ Asian communities. We worked with adults and children from more than a dozen countries. Since 1993, the program has brought education and healing to many thousands of new immigrants stressed by the need to adjust to new customs, language, and economic circumstances, as well as families suffering from isolation. They also bring understanding to culture clashes between Asian-born parents and American-born children. For all of our clients, we help ease the sense that problems have to be kept hidden from “outsiders” and that treatment will have an adverse impact on a family’s reputation.

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The services that AOP provides include:

• Treatment of mental illness utilizing many approaches, including cognitive behavioral therapy, psychopharmacology, substance use treatment, and play therapy

• Child abuse and neglect prevention

• Domestic violence counseling

• Parent education workshops and outreach

• Family-oriented academic enrichment

• Counseling at many public schools