YOU’RE INVITED!
FREE Virtual Lunch & Learn Featuring our Birth to Five Programs
Wednesday, November 9, 2022 | 12-1 p.m.
Join this exclusive virtual event with Pacific Clinics’ Senior Clinical Director Noelle James, Clinical Program Manager Penney Trieu, and Program Director II Christopher Leucht, who will provide in-depth information about our Birth to Five programs, followed by a live Q&A session.
To confirm your attendance, please RSVP below.
Meet Our Presenters
Christopher Leucht, Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist and program director who directs both the Birth to Five program and the Family Preservation program at Pacific Clinics in Pasadena, California. He has been working in community mental health settings serving low-income individuals and families from a variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds since 1997. More than half of the families served by the Birth to Five program primarily or exclusively speak Spanish or Armenian, and many of the Family Preservation clients are Spanish speakers.
Chris is passionate about training employees in multicultural mental health and educational settings and how pervasive trauma history is in children and adults, the principles of Trauma Informed Care, and strategies that can be used in mental health and educational settings across cultures to help children and adults heal from traumatic experiences and become more resilient. He has led trainings in these areas for almost 15 years.
Chris earned his undergraduate degree in psychology and math at the University of Michigan and master’s and doctoral degrees in psychology at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena. Additionally, he participated in a yearlong National Council for Behavioral Healthcare Trauma Informed Care Learning Collaborative in 2013 and 2014, and subsequently served as the co-chair of Pacific Clinics’ first Trauma Informed Care Steering Committee.
Noelle James, LCSW, serves as a clinical director for Pacific Clinics’ Central Region, and is responsible for managing multiple clinical programs, overseeing the clinical team and daily operations in the region. With over 20 years of experience, Noelle has worked in a variety of social service and mental health programs, including foster care and adoptions, wraparound, and children’s full-service partnerships.
Noelle holds a master’s degree in Social Work with a focus in Mental Health Administration from the University of Maryland at Baltimore. She is an endorsed Infant-Family and Early Childhood Mental Health Specialist and Reflective Practice Facilitator II with the California Center for Infant-Family and Early Childhood Mental Health.
Penney Trieu is a clinical program manager with the Bay Area First 5 program since 2021. Penney has over 8 years of experience working with the birth to five population in different settings, including Applied Behavioral Analysis, school and in community mental health. Penney was previously a clinician with the First 5 program after she graduated with her master’s degree in social work. She is currently in the process of earning her Infant Early Child Mental Health (IFECMH) endorsement.
Bright Beginnings
Bright Beginnings is a collaboration of three agencies— Pacific Clinics, Exceptional Parents Unlimited (EPU) and Comprehensive Youth Services (CYS). Our mission is simple – to build stronger families, with the focus on families of children with complex behavioral health needs. Bright Beginnings offers an array of services designed to empower families to overcome barriers and effectively meet their needs.
Bright Beginnings uses a team-based approach to deliver services to support families with children ages birth to 10 who have severe behavioral challenges. Every family in Bright Beginnings is assigned a team of professional staff to walk with them in their journey through the program.
The First 5 Program
The First 5 program is contracted with Santa Clara County Mental Health and FIRST 5 to provide services to children ages 0 to 5 and their families or support systems. Services include home visitation and therapeutic services.
Birth to Five / MAT
The Birth to Five / MAT Program is based at the Pacific Clinics Foothill site in Pasadena and is led by Program Director Chris Leucht and Team Supervisor Annie Gharakhani. The target population for this program is children from birth to five years of age who suffer from serious emotional and/or behavioral challenges. Therapists on the team typically provide in-home family therapy services, in-classroom behavioral support, or both. In addition, a case manager conducts Project Fatherhood support groups in both English and Spanish for individuals in father roles where they can talk to others who understand the challenges and emotions they’re dealing with every day.
Another component of the program is the Multidisciplinary Assessment Team (MAT). MAT is a Los Angeles County collaboration between the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), the Department of Mental Health (DMH), and community mental health providers. The MAT staff conducts comprehensive assessments of children and adolescents new to foster care placement and provide linkage to needed services.
