Washburn Center for Children

Focus Area: Early Childhood

Grant Amount: $12,000

Based in Minneapolis, serves Twin Cities metro area. Washburn Center for Children provides mental health services to children and their families at three locations throughout the metro area, including a new facility in north Minneapolis. It focuses on treating severely traumatized children using the model of Child Parent Psychotherapy, a therapeutic intervention for children from birth to age five who have experienced at least one traumatic event and as a result are experiencing behavior, attachment and/or mental health problems.

Grant supports expanding Washburn’s Family Focused program, which serves children ages birth to kindergarten who are having social, emotional, or behavioral difficulties. It offers intensive in-home family therapy in addition to a therapeutic preschool classroom focused on repairing a child’s sense of safety and attachment. Early mental health intervention for children who have experienced trauma is critical to their attainment of developmental milestones. Expansion of this program will help it to reach some of the community’s most vulnerable children.