Allegheny Children's Initiative, Inc.

Allegheny Children’s Initiative provides behavioral and mental health oriented services to children and adolescents between the ages of 2-21 in Allegheny County. (more information below).

Talking with Your Children About Current Events: A helpful guide from Allegheny Children's Initiative.
View it here.

 

SUICIDE PREVENTION:

Support is available and just a phone call away. Watch this public service message created by high school students right here in Pennsylvania.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------

 

STATUS OF ALLEGHENY CHILDREN'S INITIATIVE SERVICES
DURING CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC:

The staff of Allegheny Children’s Initiative is committed to the families of Allegheny County and continue to provide quality services to all enrolled families. Most of our programs are accepting referrals. We are in this together and will emerge strong.  

Family Based
Our therapists continue to provide therapeutic services to the families we serve. Sessions are conducted via telephone or video. Therapists work with each family to determine what system works best for them. Knowing that family members may need extra support and reassurance during this confusing time, the therapists check in with each family more frequently. The clinicians conduct sessions both individually and by teams. 
If a family who is receiving Family Based therapy needs to reach the on-call therapist in a crisis, please call 412- 915-4917. 

Intensive Behavioral Health Services
Allegheny Children’s Initiative Mobile Therapists and Behavioral Health Consultants continue to provide services to the child or youth, and their families, during the Coronavirus pandemic. As with all of our services, sessions are conducted via telephone or video. The therapists work with each family to determine what system works best for them.
Children and youth are probably more anxious, distractible, and energized than typical while required to stay at home, and so our therapists are prepared to engage them during shorter but more frequent sessions. 
If a child or youth who is receiving BHRS services needs crisis response, we suggest that the parent follow their child’s crisis plan, and as a last resort, call Resolve at 888-796-8226.  https://www.upmc.com/services/behavioral-health/resolve-crisis-services

Service Coordination
Allegheny Children’s Service Coordinators are hard at work every day making sure that the families they serve have the resources they need to weather this national crisis.
They are conducting sessions via telephone or video and are asking families if they have the food, supplies, and medications that they need. They are connecting families to resources for self-care, education and entertainment, food distribution, and information about how to stay safe from the Coronavirus. If a child is experiencing a behavioral health crisis, families are asked to follow their crisis plan and if needed, call the on-call Service Coordinator at 412-979-0182.

Student Assistance Program
Our Student Assistance Program (SAP) provides assessment and referral services to students in the West Jefferson and Mount Lebanon School Districts. The needs of students are often magnified during stressful times and our Liaison is working with the faculty at all instructional levels to identify, assess, and refer students to services.  

Kids’ Club and Moms’ Empowerment
Allegheny Children’s Initiative’s newest program is a fun, friendly, and family-oriented group that supports children and their mothers that have been exposed to intimate partner violence. Mothers and their children participate in a two-hour weekly group experience that lasts for 10 weeks and includes a tasty meal. Learn more here. 

Addressing Young Peoples’ Fears Over the Coronavirus
Allegheny Children’s Initiative realizes that young people have their own unique fears and concerns about the pandemic. Our psychologist, David McAnallen, has authored a useful guide to helping kids during this time. “Six Steps to Ease Children’s Fears and Anxieties About Coronavirus” may be found right here.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

** Information on Community Action Agencies that may be abel to help may be found here.
** Learn more about services provided by Community Action Agencies.

Allegheny Children's Initiative:

Who We Are

Allegheny Children's Initiative is a social services agency located in the South Side of Pittsburgh that provides help to children and families throughout Allegheny County. We are licensed by the PA Department of Human Services/Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services and monitored by Allegheny County Department of Human Services and Community Care Behavioral Health Organization. Allegheny Children's Initiative is a trauma-informed agency. Staff have been training in the delivery of trauma-informed care, which includes recognizing and addressing the impact of trauma in daily practices and interventions.

Call Allegheny Children's Initiative at 412-431-8006.

What We Do

We bring families, schools and community organizations together! We help children function at their highest abilities by providing a continuum of behavioral health oriented services.

We provide the following services:

How We Help You

We work with your family to identify needs and strengths and together we build a plan to work towards your goals. Some of the ways we help YOU:

  • We listen to you
  • We focus on your child and your family; we promote your child’s strengths
  • Together we follow your child’s treatment and measure their success!
  • We teach, consult, answer questions, and offer your child as much support as they need

Where We Help

We work with the child in THEIR environment (home, school and/or community) to support them and their family and natural support system.

We help children and adolescents who:

  • Need help with anger management
  • Feel anxious or depressed
  • Have experienced a trauma
  • Need help focusing or following directions
  • Are at risk for out-of-home placement
  • Find themselves as a victim or bully
  • Need to feel better about themselves
  • Have trouble sleeping or eating

 

Our History

Allegheny Children’s Initiative was established in 1993 by the Allegheny County Children, Youth and Families and Behavioral Health/Office of Intellectual Disabilities Departments to provide case management services for children and adolescents who needed assistance beyond the traditional array of services.

Allegheny Children's Initiative teamed up with Citizen Care Inc. in March 2000 (now known as Partners For Quality, Inc.) and expanded its continuum of services and supports to provide interventions to children and families in the home, school and community settings.

Today, we provide services to more than 500 children and adolescents with adjustment and behavioral health challenges including depression, anxiety, and autism spectrum and learning disorders. We also help children whose lives have been impacted by trauma, abuse or neglect.

Our goal is to provide children with a renewed sense of hope and value! We do this by providing a continuum of behavioral health services that are tailor-made for each child and family. Your child and your family are our main priority! We are an enrolled and credentialed provider within the Community Care Behavioral Health Organization and we are nationally accredited by The Council on Accreditation for Children and Family Services (COA).