Affordable Therapy - Kids & Adults
Donation protected
Donate today to help us provide therapeutic services to children, adolescents, adults, couples, and families in need!
Bay Area Community Counseling provides individual, couple, and family therapy to children, adolescents, and adults in financial need in San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, and San Mateo Counties. Interns and newly licensed therapists provide treatment at a sliding scale, trying to accomodate all incomes.
BACC started in 2011 and over the past eight years, has served over 950 clients. To date, BACC has existed with little fundraising to develop the organization, and nearly all of the money has gone to client services.
We are one of the few programs providing training for therapists in effective, evidence based therapies; training them in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy, Structural-Strategic Family Therapy, and Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing.
If you would like to help those in financial need get the individual, couple, and/or family therapy they need for overcoming anxiety, trauma, ADHD, depression, relationship problems, drug and alcohol addiction, OCD, feeling suicidal, self harming, binge eating, anorexia, struggling with parenting, learning disabilities, relationship problems, and other issues, then please donate today.
Any little amount helps, you can donate:
$5 - Thumbs Up
$25 - High Five
$50 - Cheers - Pays for 1 Client's Session
$100 - Hooray - Pays for 2 Sessions
$500 - Wow - Pays for a Course of Therapy for Adult*
$1000 - Amazing - A Couse of Therapy for Child**
>$1000 - Unbelievable! - Many Get Helped!
*Average Expenses of Providing 10 Sessions, An Average Course of Short Term Adult Therapy
**Average Expenses for Providing 20 Sessions, An Average Course of Short Term Child/Adolescent Therapy
Some Examples of Clients We Help (names are changed, identifying information is removed, client stories are combined to be unidentifiable):
Sandy and her daughter Jocelyn - Sandy brought her eight year old daughter Jocelyn to therapy because she was acting out, yelling, not doing her homework, and struggling with anxiety. Sandy had been focused on getting herself well over the past few years as she got out of an abusive relationship with her daughter's father, and got sober. Struggling to make it on her own, she worked as hard as she could to make ends meet for her and her daughter, and got herself on the right track, but she didn't know how to help her little girl. Jocelyn was young when her parents were drinking and were violent, and at six years old was sexually abused while in the care of family members as Sandy was getting sober. Jocelyn's anxiety lead to defiance and aggression and although Sandy tried to be a good parent, she didn't know what to do. In therapy at BACC, their therapist was able to work with them using Structural-Strategic Family Therapy to help them to build back a relationship between Sandy and her daughter. Her therapist was able to help Sandy add to her parenting toolbox to manager her daughter's defiance, and the therapist helped Jocelyn to talk to her mother about how bad she was feeling, so Sandy could take care of her. Her daughter was able to talk to her about feeling let down that she was abused and her mother hadn't been there to help her, and Sandy wept and apologized for not being able to protect her daughter. Their relationship improved, Jocelyn started doing better in school, and her therapist was able to help her work through the trauma using Eye Movement Desensitizaiton Reprocessing (EMDR), and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for her anxiety and depression. Jocelyn was able to be a kid again, to let her mother be her mother, and to become confident, moving into the world, rather than hiding away from it.
Mary - Mary had been walking home one night from work, and was assaulted. She struggled with the anxiety and trauma from that night for years before she sought help, feeling that there was no way she could overcome this, but had heard that BACC could help victim's of crime. She hadn't been working and couldn't find a therapist who she could afford, but was able to work with an intern through BACC. Mary and her therapist worked for some time to build a relationship, help her to develop skills for coping with her anxiety and use less of her unhealthy coping skills like drinking. Once she was feeling more stable, they worked on her trauma using EMDR, and she began to feel hopeful. She was having less nightmares, feeling less on guard all of the time, and began to get her confidence back. She began working again and started to get back onto the road of life after being stuck in a rut for many years.
Maggie and Jerry - wanting to stay together, and provide a healthy, supportive household for their 3 year old, Maggie and Jerry began therapy due to their constant arguing and fighting. Although they both cared very much, they couldn't seem to reach each other and got frustrated, feeling like it was hopeless. The stress of just making it by, with the cost of housing, childcare, and both working more than full time jobs, lead them to feel stuck in most every aspect. After working with a BACC counselor, using Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT) they were able to catch their cycle or dance, that was leading them farther apart, rather than closer together. Jerry learned when Maggie was wanting to talk, it was to get closer, not make him feel bad for all the things she needed from him, but wasn't getting. Maggie learned that it wasn't that Jerry didn't care when he got silent and didn't talk, but it was his attempt to maintain whatever closeness they could keep, because he was worried if he did talk about how he'd feel, they'd have a big fight and it would be work. After catching their cycle, they were able to be more vulnerable with each other, discussing their fears of losing each other, and wondering if the other really wanted to be with them, or if they were just staying together for their daughter. They both loved and wanted to be connected again, and through the therapy, they really got that from one another, and reaffirmed their love, and were able to "catch" themselves when they were turning to each other and communicating from a less vulnerable place.
Michael - Michael came to BACC needing help. He had been struggling for years. He had tried getting a degree when he was younger, but failed out of college; worked in a number of jobs and always started off well, but his mistakes added up and he never was kept on for more than a year. The school he went to as a child had mentioned ADHD, but his family never followed through on getting an assessment and treatment. Michael was able to get help at BACC, seeing a therapist for a low fee. He was diagnosed with ADHD, connected with a psychiatrist for a medication evaluation, and helped to develop skills through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to manage his symptoms. He started to do better at work and was hopeful, but the years of messing up left him struggling with anxiety and depression. His therapy was able to help him work through his shame, and helping him to face difficult situations, rather than avoid them. Through the CBT he was able to see how his years of struggling with ADHD had effected his sense of self, and move from self depricating, to resilient. EMDR was also used to help him with his past experiences that lead him to feel he was no good, and his therapist was able to help him solidify this in couples therapy with his wife. The Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy helped him to express his fears that he was unlovable, and she'd be better off with out him, and she was able to express how much she did love him. Also, now that they had identified the ADHD and he was getting treatment, she finally understood why things had been so difficult, and realized it was not out of a lack of caring for her that he was not reliable, but that the ADHD had made it hard for him to function.
Bay Area Community Counseling provides individual, couple, and family therapy to children, adolescents, and adults in financial need in San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, and San Mateo Counties. Interns and newly licensed therapists provide treatment at a sliding scale, trying to accomodate all incomes.
BACC started in 2011 and over the past eight years, has served over 950 clients. To date, BACC has existed with little fundraising to develop the organization, and nearly all of the money has gone to client services.
We are one of the few programs providing training for therapists in effective, evidence based therapies; training them in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy, Structural-Strategic Family Therapy, and Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing.
If you would like to help those in financial need get the individual, couple, and/or family therapy they need for overcoming anxiety, trauma, ADHD, depression, relationship problems, drug and alcohol addiction, OCD, feeling suicidal, self harming, binge eating, anorexia, struggling with parenting, learning disabilities, relationship problems, and other issues, then please donate today.
Any little amount helps, you can donate:
$5 - Thumbs Up
$25 - High Five
$50 - Cheers - Pays for 1 Client's Session
$100 - Hooray - Pays for 2 Sessions
$500 - Wow - Pays for a Course of Therapy for Adult*
$1000 - Amazing - A Couse of Therapy for Child**
>$1000 - Unbelievable! - Many Get Helped!
*Average Expenses of Providing 10 Sessions, An Average Course of Short Term Adult Therapy
**Average Expenses for Providing 20 Sessions, An Average Course of Short Term Child/Adolescent Therapy
Some Examples of Clients We Help (names are changed, identifying information is removed, client stories are combined to be unidentifiable):
Sandy and her daughter Jocelyn - Sandy brought her eight year old daughter Jocelyn to therapy because she was acting out, yelling, not doing her homework, and struggling with anxiety. Sandy had been focused on getting herself well over the past few years as she got out of an abusive relationship with her daughter's father, and got sober. Struggling to make it on her own, she worked as hard as she could to make ends meet for her and her daughter, and got herself on the right track, but she didn't know how to help her little girl. Jocelyn was young when her parents were drinking and were violent, and at six years old was sexually abused while in the care of family members as Sandy was getting sober. Jocelyn's anxiety lead to defiance and aggression and although Sandy tried to be a good parent, she didn't know what to do. In therapy at BACC, their therapist was able to work with them using Structural-Strategic Family Therapy to help them to build back a relationship between Sandy and her daughter. Her therapist was able to help Sandy add to her parenting toolbox to manager her daughter's defiance, and the therapist helped Jocelyn to talk to her mother about how bad she was feeling, so Sandy could take care of her. Her daughter was able to talk to her about feeling let down that she was abused and her mother hadn't been there to help her, and Sandy wept and apologized for not being able to protect her daughter. Their relationship improved, Jocelyn started doing better in school, and her therapist was able to help her work through the trauma using Eye Movement Desensitizaiton Reprocessing (EMDR), and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for her anxiety and depression. Jocelyn was able to be a kid again, to let her mother be her mother, and to become confident, moving into the world, rather than hiding away from it.
Mary - Mary had been walking home one night from work, and was assaulted. She struggled with the anxiety and trauma from that night for years before she sought help, feeling that there was no way she could overcome this, but had heard that BACC could help victim's of crime. She hadn't been working and couldn't find a therapist who she could afford, but was able to work with an intern through BACC. Mary and her therapist worked for some time to build a relationship, help her to develop skills for coping with her anxiety and use less of her unhealthy coping skills like drinking. Once she was feeling more stable, they worked on her trauma using EMDR, and she began to feel hopeful. She was having less nightmares, feeling less on guard all of the time, and began to get her confidence back. She began working again and started to get back onto the road of life after being stuck in a rut for many years.
Maggie and Jerry - wanting to stay together, and provide a healthy, supportive household for their 3 year old, Maggie and Jerry began therapy due to their constant arguing and fighting. Although they both cared very much, they couldn't seem to reach each other and got frustrated, feeling like it was hopeless. The stress of just making it by, with the cost of housing, childcare, and both working more than full time jobs, lead them to feel stuck in most every aspect. After working with a BACC counselor, using Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT) they were able to catch their cycle or dance, that was leading them farther apart, rather than closer together. Jerry learned when Maggie was wanting to talk, it was to get closer, not make him feel bad for all the things she needed from him, but wasn't getting. Maggie learned that it wasn't that Jerry didn't care when he got silent and didn't talk, but it was his attempt to maintain whatever closeness they could keep, because he was worried if he did talk about how he'd feel, they'd have a big fight and it would be work. After catching their cycle, they were able to be more vulnerable with each other, discussing their fears of losing each other, and wondering if the other really wanted to be with them, or if they were just staying together for their daughter. They both loved and wanted to be connected again, and through the therapy, they really got that from one another, and reaffirmed their love, and were able to "catch" themselves when they were turning to each other and communicating from a less vulnerable place.
Michael - Michael came to BACC needing help. He had been struggling for years. He had tried getting a degree when he was younger, but failed out of college; worked in a number of jobs and always started off well, but his mistakes added up and he never was kept on for more than a year. The school he went to as a child had mentioned ADHD, but his family never followed through on getting an assessment and treatment. Michael was able to get help at BACC, seeing a therapist for a low fee. He was diagnosed with ADHD, connected with a psychiatrist for a medication evaluation, and helped to develop skills through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to manage his symptoms. He started to do better at work and was hopeful, but the years of messing up left him struggling with anxiety and depression. His therapy was able to help him work through his shame, and helping him to face difficult situations, rather than avoid them. Through the CBT he was able to see how his years of struggling with ADHD had effected his sense of self, and move from self depricating, to resilient. EMDR was also used to help him with his past experiences that lead him to feel he was no good, and his therapist was able to help him solidify this in couples therapy with his wife. The Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy helped him to express his fears that he was unlovable, and she'd be better off with out him, and she was able to express how much she did love him. Also, now that they had identified the ADHD and he was getting treatment, she finally understood why things had been so difficult, and realized it was not out of a lack of caring for her that he was not reliable, but that the ADHD had made it hard for him to function.
Organizer
Keith Sutton
Organizer
San Francisco, CA
