New Directions Counseling Center was established in 1975 as a non-profit organization to address the emotional needs of low income and uninsured persons. The Center provides counseling services to individuals (children, adolescents, adults, couples and families).
A broad range of mental health issues are addressed including depression, relationship problems, stress, anxiety, abuse, grief and difficult life adjustments. Fees are based solely on the client's ability to pay.
Mental Health Fact of the Month: "Up to one-half of all visits to primary care physicians are due to conditions that are caused or exacerbated by mental or emotional problems. - Collaborative Family Healthcare Coalition, 1998
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July 4, 2004
A Letter from Dr. Michael Rubino III
Dear Friends,
I would like to start with, I hope all is well with you and your families. I am sorry that it has been so long since you have heard from us. We have been very busy trying to serve our patients and at the same time deal with the mental health crisis that we find ourselves in. The need for psychotherapy services is at an all time high, however the resources available to pay for these services is at an all time low. Everyday we have people calling the Center or walking in telling us how they have been trying to find counseling, but they cannot find services that they can afford. We are rapidly becoming the only place in the County that can provide affordable counseling to children, families and individuals who do not have the financial resources to afford private psychotherapy services. In reviewing our patient records approximately 90% of our patients could not afford to go to another counseling center. This means that if New Directions did not exist that a large number of children and families would not be receiving the therapy services that they so desperately need. It is also important to note, that the research is showing with early intervention the likelihood of a positive outcome increases dramatically.
Let me bring you up to date on what we have been doing to deal with this crisis.
We have increased our number of supervisors and counselors so we can serve more patients.
We are accepting Medi-Cal so these patients have a place to come for counseling services.
We continue to move forward with our Families 2004 Project. The goal of this project is to make services well known to our community and to increase the number of people that we are serving.
We had another successful Father-son communication Group with another one scheduled for the summer, which means we are meeting the goals of this project.
We have had a very successful year with continuing education classes and we will conclude this successful training year with a legal and ethical workshop in July. The presenter will be the General Counsel for the California Marriage and Family Therapist Association. We are very fortunate to have Bonnie as one of our presenters because she is in great demand. Furthermore, we will start next year’s training year by being one of the main sponsors of the fourth annual Adolescent Summit in October which will be held at Mt. Diablo Medical Center. As you can see, besides providing the greatly needed therapy services to our community we also continue to provide high quality training to our trainees and interns. By training these therapists we are increasing the number of licensed professionals who will be willing to see people at a reduced rate thereby helping to resolve the current mental health crisis we are now faced with.
Besides our clinical work, we have some fun events planned for our community and our New Directions family, which includes all of you. Working all the time without time to relax and enjoy what life has to offer is not healthy for anyone. Therefore, we have planned some fun events.
Over Memorial Day weekend we will be at Kids Fest 2004 in Concord. This will be our third year at this event. We will also have our toy raffle again this year. This is a great family event you don’t want to miss. We are able to do this due to the generous donations of a long time donor, Paul Rago.
In July, we will have the first annual New Directions Family Picnic planned. There will be food, games and fun for all. We will be sending more information about the picnic shortly.
The first weekend in August, we will have the fourth annual production of Celebrate Life sponsored by Rubino Counseling Services. This will be held at the De La Salle Theater. Admission is free. This is another great family event that you should not miss.
Finally, we will conclude the summer with an evening under the stars with a play at the Woodminster Amphitheater in Joaquin Miller Park located in the Oakland hills. This is a great place to picnic before the show and another great family event.
As you can see we are as busy as ever trying to solve some very serious social problems. We can use all the support we can get. So if you can donate some time or if you can make a financial donation it would be greatly appreciated. We are supported solely by you our dear friends and supporters. In order for us to continue to provide the superior quality of therapy to our patients and training for our interns, we need your financial support. Any amount is helpful. We are not asking everyone to make large donations; we are asking you, our family members, to join together and donate what you can afford. If all of us work together, we will resolve this mental health crisis. One person cannot accomplish this alone, we need a family working together and together we will do it.
Again, thank you for your continued support and I look forward to seeing you at this summer’s events. As a reminder I would also like to add that if at any time you have any questions or concerns that you wish to discuss with me please do not hesitate to call the office or email me at Rubinom@ndcounselingcenter.org. My door is always open for a member of the family.
Yours truly,
Michael Rubino III, Ph.D.
Michael Rubino III, Ph.D.
Executive Director
