Millions of American children live with depression, anxiety, ADHD, autism spectrum disorders, or a host of other mental health challenges. Treatment helps improve skills for coping with life’s stressors and challenges and develops a sense of empowerment. It can also pinpoint specific issues while learning new ways to interact as a family.

Cascadia’s Child & Family Services team provides outpatient services to children and their families, with a focus on strengthening families from diverse backgrounds, and understands and values the role of families in creating a healthier community. Especially now as we face a global pandemic and families are encountering many new challenges, Cascadia is here to help navigate emotional or behavioral health concerns.

Read on to learn about some of Cascadia’s Child and Family team members, who are key to the health and safety of the families Cascadia serves.

Meet Ryely: Child and Family Supervisor, Cascadia’s Garlington and Plaza Health Centers

“What we know is that so many mental health conditions go untreated for many years for the average person in our communities.  Child and Family work is prevention and early intervention work.  It means caregivers are better equipped with skills to support themselves and their children, and kids are seen and provided tools early, reducing the long-term impacts of family-system trauma and mental health symptoms. I really enjoy working with teens and transition-aged youth and appreciate the developmental tasks that come with individuation and identity exploration. I specialize in working with LGBTQ communities and value my role in holding a curious open container for young people to safely explore these ideas of identity and sexuality. Cascadia’s mission of whole healthcare sits central to the work we all do. We cannot work with individual parts of a person and expect full healing, we do not exist as disparate parts. It is necessary to understand the ways in which health and healing are interconnected, and support an individual’s access to care for their whole selves.”

Meet Michele: Counselor III, Cascadia’s Woodland Park Health Center

“I have had the privilege to have worked with individuals and families to support and provide services for major medical diagnoses, death of family members, past traumatic events, developmental concerns, brain differences, behavioral concerns, learning problems, homelessness and life adjustments such as getting out of a treatment program, release from incarceration and/or the return of children to a parent’s care. My belief is that to effectively treat an individual of any age, there must be consideration of the ‘whole person’ including their physical, cognitive, emotional, and spiritual well-being. I believe that providing treatment and support early in an individual or family’s life may assist young people in graduating from high school, reduce the amount of relationship or parental stress, and/or help someone avoid incarceration for mistakes in their life. I am grateful for having had the opportunity to work with many diverse families and in many interesting programs to improve outcomes for individuals and families.”

If you’d like to support Cascadia’s Child and Family team, stay tuned for information on our Back-to-School fundraiser. Additionally, we encourage anyone interested in learning more about the services Cascadia offers to children and families to call (503) 674-7777, Monday-Friday from 10 AM – 5 PM.