Our diverse assortment of programs in Irvine + Loma Linda, CA are customized to suit each child’s needs.
SFCC Mental Health Services Located in Irvine and Yorba Linda, California
With Stepping Forward Counseling Center, we offer a diverse assortment of exceptional mental health programs based on the needs of our clients. Each child has their own personalized plan. We provide a comprehensive list of integrated treatment programs and educational services that are effective, culturally competent, and client-friendly.
Whether your child is in need of an Afterschool Program, Psychiatrist Outpatient Services, creative art therapy, Parent Programs, Family Therapy, a clinically advanced multi-modality program, etc., SFCC’s evidence-based behavior strategies and modalities are proven to work and hold a very high success rate. Our clients have shown significant improvements in self-esteem, social skills, anger control, problem-solving skills, rule-following, etc. All of our programs are customized to suit your child’s specific needs.
The intensity of our programs and customizable solutions is what makes SFCC successful! We do extensive performance tracking in order to determine the intensity needed for your child. From home to school, our experts get involved in every aspect of the child’s life. We pride ourselves on building close relationships with our clients’ schools, teachers, and school psychologists. SFCC’s ultimate goal is to help our clients improve their quality of life. We do this by teaching the mind to think, the hands to work, and the heart to love. If you have any questions or concerns, contact Stepping Forward Counseling Center today.
Our Programs
SFCC’S Evidence Based Practice (EBP)
Mental Health Components
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Many of our verbal group therapies utilize a CBT-based psychotherapeutic approach to treatment. Children actively work in group sessions to identify and challenge distorted and irrational automatic beliefs and patterns of thinking that lead to negative feelings and self-destructive behaviors. CBT’s focus is on changing distorted thoughts and beliefs.
CBT is applicable to a variety of symptoms and behaviors. CBT has excellent scientific data supporting its use in the treatment of emotional and behavioral disorders and is an evidence-based therapy.
School Matters Groups
As many of the children in our programs receive special education services and have difficulties learning and mastering grade-level academic work, children in both the Day and After School programs receive daily instruction in the areas of Organization, Time Management, and Study Skills.
They have the opportunity to learn organization, complete school work, improve listening skills, and learn strategies for note-taking and testing. Members learn about their learning styles and individual needs, alleviating frustrations at home and at school and enhancing self-esteem.
Drama Therapy
Theatre techniques are used to facilitate personal growth and promote social skills, trust, impulse control, expression of emotion, and teamwork. Children work individually and in groups, role-playing new behaviors and receiving immediate feedback from peers and counselors.
Manners Matter Groups
Designed to teach cooperation, manners, and responsibility with the aim of instilling leadership and social competence. Children learn basic manners, how to manage conflict, and how to show kindness and consideration for others across a broad range of social settings.
Yoga/Chanting
Our Yoga instructors teach children targeted yoga poses and madras designed to dissipate depression, awaken energy, and release joy. Yoga improves concentration and awareness while teaching relaxation and breathing techniques that foster competence and control. Yoga poses, additionally, challenge the imagination and improve strength and flexibility.
Nutritional Counseling/Cooking
The purpose of our nutritional program is to create a nutritional lifestyle, develop nutritional menus, follow healthy recipes, cook nutritional snacks, and create appropriate diets. Our program includes identifying resources, curriculum, and educational materials that are necessary to promote healthy lifestyles and lifelong learning. Children work with a health professional to assess individual dietary needs and identify areas where change may be needed. Children receive information, educational material, and support while participating in hands-on nutritional exercises and activities in an effort to assist them in maintaining nutritional wellness.
Physiological Components
Guided Imagery
Guided imagery is a program of directed thoughts and suggestions that channel your mind toward a relaxed, focused state. Guided imagery can be used as a coping skill and has been found to relieve emotional distress.
Art Therapy
The creative process of art is used to improve and enhance physical, mental, and emotional well-being. We believe that the creative processes involved in artistic self-expression help children resolve conflicts, develop interpersonal skills, manage behavior, reduce stress, increase self-esteem and self-awareness, and achieve insight.
Emotion Freedom Techniques
A form of psychological acupressure, EFT is based on the same energy meridians used in traditional acupuncture. Simple tapping with the fingertips is used to input kinetic energy into specific meridians on the head and chest while thinking about specific problems and voicing positive affirmations. The combination of tapping the energy meridians and voicing positive affirmations restores mind-body balance and removes “emotional blockage” from the body's bioenergy system.
Sound Therapy
Like adjusting a piano, your body can be tuned to achieve optimal physical balance. Tuning forks are used to alter the body’s biochemistry and bring the nervous system, muscles, and organs into harmonious balance
Chess
Let’s play chess! It is dedicated to engaging children in activities that promote academic and social development in challenging and interactive ways. Chess raises the level of expectations of what children can achieve as it builds confidence and team spirit while developing self-esteem and self-compassion. Playing chess increases concentration and provides lessons that children learn, which help them become successful in life. For example, the value of perseverance through adversity and the priceless experience of achievement for being consistent in their efforts.
Social Skills Training Curriculum Relationships
All SFCC programs offer a comprehensive social skill training curriculum incorporating the works of Arnold Goldstein (Skills Streaming Program) and Frank Gresham.
Through social skills groups, children learn about verbal and nonverbal behaviors involved in social. Children give and receive feedback from peers and staff while participating in real-life activities. Children learn to change their social behavior patterns through modeling, role-playing, and rehearsing newly learned behaviors in individual and group therapy sessions.
Social skills training helps improve one’s ability to function in everyday situations, improve self-esteem, and increase the likelihood of positive social interactions.
Sports and Cooperative Games
Games are conducted both onsite and on the field. Games are designed to build self-worth and positive social interaction through cooperation, acceptance, inclusion, and fun. Through cooperative games and sports, children learn how to play with rather than against each other, and the focus is shifted from the outcome of a game to the experience of playing it.
Dialectical Behavioral Skills Training Groups (DBT)
Members learn skills in the areas of distress tolerance, mindfulness, emotional regulation, and interpersonal relating. Groups focus on improving one’s ability to handle distress without losing control and acting destructively.
Community Outings
Community field trips occur regularly in order to generalize the skills taught at SFCC. Our clients participate and explore a variety of settings. The goal of our community outings is to practice the skills learned at programs in a natural, every-day environment so that clients can make transitions easily and adapt to new situations comfortably.
Martial Arts
Through martial arts, children improve focus, increase self-control and discipline, and increase self-esteem and self-awareness. Martial arts can also improve physical fitness and lead to a healthier lifestyle.
Meditation
Meditation therapy calms the mind, reduces stress, and keeps children focused and in the present. Meditation therapy has been proven to relieve depression as well as nervous system (headaches) and digestive (Crohn’s disease, nausea) complaints.
Aromatherapy
Aromatherapy is a form of alternative medicine used to enhance psychological and physical well-being. Absorbed through the skin or inhaled, natural essential oils stimulate brain function and travel through the blood stream to promote whole-body healing.
Respira Salt Therapies
Children in all programs participate in Respira salt therapy approximately once per month. As children receive their typical social skills group therapy, a dry mist of mineral salts infuse the air to help clear breathing problems, boost the immune system, and detoxify the body. Respira salt room treatments are 100% drug-free and non-invasive. The benefits of this drug-free solution will help to improve the symptoms that may affect normal lung functioning.
Cranial Sacral Therapy
A gentle, hands-on approach that releases tension deep in the body to relieve pain and dysfunction and improve mental and physical health and performance. Practitioners gently evaluate the craniosacral system by feeling various locations of the body to test for the ease of motion and rhythm of the cerebrospinal fluid pulsing around the brain and spinal cord. Soft-touch techniques are then used to release restrictions in any tissues that may be affecting the central nervous system.
Mindfulness Interventions
When children or youth are coping with a mental health concern, it can inhibit their ability to disregard meaningless stimuli, which results in increased distractability, poor organizational skills, and a decreased ability to focus on a specific task. Increasingly, research is providing support for the use of mindfulness-based activities to reduce mental health concerns, such as anxiety and depression, and enhance psychological well-being. Clients learn coping skills with Mindfulness intervention games.
Our Clinicians
The SFCC Southern CA Team in Irvine and Yorba Linda, CA are superheroes who go beyond the call of duty.
Each and every staff member is dedicated to and committed to SFCC’s methodology of bringing a sense of wellness and success to your child and family.
Dr. Gary Pedneault, MD (Irvine + Loma Linda, CA Locations Psychiatry)
Head of Psychiatry at SFCC Southern California locations, Dr. Pedneault, has in-depth knowledge of diagnosing, treating and managing behavior disorders associated with mental health. Dr. Pedneault’s treatments focuses on effectively developing and implementing core treatment plans with the team. Boston-born, Dr. Pedneault moved to California in 1990 and did his Postgraduate studies in Child Psychiatry at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.
Dr. Mitchell Shaffer, PhD, LMFT (Clinical Manager)
Dr. Shaffer brings 30 years of IOP and PCP experience working with teens and young adults. Dr. Shaffer is Canadian born and has been a resident of Southern California for most of his adult life. Mitch and his wife are very proud of their son and two daughters, all in their late teens. An active community member Dr. Shaffer has the insight to the needs of our clients. He will be developing new programs and assisting with the clinical and family treatment at SFCC. Dr. Shaffer has worked with many different modalities like DBT and Dateianhänge CBT in his IOP and PCP programs. Dr. Shaffer is part of SFCC’s DBT team.
Andrea Bae, LCSW (Program Manager - Irvine)
Andrea received her B.A. in Psychology and additional minors in Business Economics and Korean from the University of Notre Dame. She completed her M.S. in Social Work from Columbia University, where she worked in-depth with children and young adults relative to their mental health and professional development. Andrea has worked with children and adolescents for multiple years in diverse settings and has a passion for working with this population. Andrea enjoys going to the beach, traveling, watching movies and sports, and trying new foods. She partners with children and their families to grow, maximize their potential, and create meaningful connections.
Claire Miller, ASW
Claire Miller obtained her Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Washington. Claire has five years of experience helping young people develop and practice social skills that positively impact their family and school settings. Claire believes in the healing power of animals as she has raised 11 service dogs, volunteered at a therapeutic horseback riding center, and has a french bulldog named Winston who is a certified therapy dog. Claire was raised near Seattle, Washington, and has a brother with a developmental disability. She knows being the sibling of a child with special needs has its own challenges and hopes to use her experiences to support other siblings.
Heather Valentino, LCSW
Winston, Certified Therapy Dog
Animal Assisted Activity (AAA) is a type of therapy that combines traditional therapy with human and animal interactions. AAA uses goal-directed interventions and is guided by professionals who have been certified as therapy animal handlers. Claire Miller, a certified therapy animal handler, and her French Bulldog Winston, a certified therapy dog, are excited about implementing AAA at Stepping Forward Counseling Center (SFCC).
Carissa Ferbert, MS
Carissa Ferbert completed both her B.A. in Psychology and her M.S. in Clinical Psychology from California State University, Fullerton. Carissa has worked with children and adolescents in therapeutic and academic settings; she scheduled and planned a mental health awareness workshop for sixth-grade students at a local public school. Carissa is a dedicated advocate for mental health access and education to assist children and their families in growing in order to achieve their goals. Carissa loves being outdoors and believes nature strongly impacts mental health; she enjoys hiking and camping. She also enjoys reading, traveling, and watching movies.
Erika Guillen, MA
Erika received her (B.S.) in Criminal Justice from California State University, Los Angeles. Erika also received her (M.A.) in Educational School Counseling from La Verne University. Erika has worked with children and teens for over ten years. Erika has experience working with at-risk children in different settings, such as group homes, community programs, and mental hospitals. Erika is passionate about helping children and their families achieve their goals by ensuring they receive the services they need.
Kaitlyn Lologo, ASW
I recently earned my BA in psychology with a minor in educational psychology at the University of Arizona. I am currently enrolled to earn my Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy. I have been a part of the SFCC team for 4 years now, working with a wide variety of clients.
I was born and raised in Southern California, and in my free time, I will usually be with my family or friends doing my favorite things like going to the beach, the movie theaters, or finding a new place to get some food after a hard workout!
Jackie Marzano - Irvine Office Manager
Andrew Alanis, APCC
