Our fifth and final Lincoln nonprofit finalist in the 100 Year, $100k Office Makeover Contest is the Child Guidance Center, which is dedicated to meeting the mental health needs of children and their families. Answers provided by Cody Perrien, Youth Treatment Specialist at the Child Guidance Center.
To vote for the Lincoln winner of the office makeover contest, click here!
Q: Why do you need an office makeover?
A: Our offices are located at 2444 O Street and while we have raised some money to help spruce up the outside of our building, the inside of our building isn’t nearly as welcoming as we would like to greet 1,700 children and families or more each year. Our colors are drab for the most part and in need of much sprucing up. Lincoln’s children and families deserve to come to an uplifting place and with so much of our funding coming from Medicaid; it is difficult to find dollars to spruce up our surroundings. Mental health is as important as physical health. 
Q: How do you devote ethical business practices to fulfilling your mission?
A: Child Guidance Center is the Leader in Children’s Mental Health and we have been providing services for 69 years. Our agency has 41 clinicians who are bound by ethical standards and we are accredited by The Joint Commission. We are the mental health safety net for children and their families when they don’t have anywhere else to turn to for care. We have highly trained clinical and administrative staff that carry out the necessary functions of the agency.
Q: What are some positive examples of your influence on the community?
A: Child Guidance Center provides services at our location at 25th and O Streets (which definitely needs a makeover) but we also have Outpatient Services Therapists at 16 Lincoln Public Schools; we operate a Therapeutic Group Home for boys who have been traumatized, and through our Youth In Crisis program we provide the suicide assessments and transitional counseling to all youth detained in the Juvenile Detention Center. Thanks to support from the Community Health Endowment of Lincoln we have added Active Parenting Classes for parents of children of all ages. These classes are evidence based and we ensure that all parents/guardians or other adult family members who would like to participate may do so at a very reasonable fee.
Q: Please demonstrate your leadership.
A: Last year our board of directors donated and helped to raise over $55,000 to support Child Guidance Center; and a huge percentage of our employees give a gift each year to support the United Way of Lincoln and Lancaster County. Child Guidance Center has staff involved in many areas of the Lincoln community.