LAS CUMBRES NEWS
Las Cumbres Community Services’ existing Child and Family Services are expanding in Los Alamos County with an Intervention and Treatment focus for families with young children. Thanks to a grant award from Los Alamos County, parenting program facilitators and early intervention specialists will be available beginning in March .
The first and most significant tier of service will focus on intervention and treatment for children ages birth to six and their caregivers. A second tier will provide companion supports for older siblings and enhance parent and community knowledge through workshops and trainings. Services will include a “Ask a Specialist” series of workshops broadcast twice a month on Fridays. Adhering to current pandemic and social distance restrictions, workshops and groups will be provided at this time by virtual platform.
These free community supports are being designed to integrate resources for families to achieve optimal physical, social-emotional and cognitive development for their children, and education for themselves. Developmental screening questions, for example, will provide parents with a “pre-evaluation” to explore signs and symptoms prior to committing to a more comprehensive and formal evaluation process. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Skills groups will walk parents through mindfulness and distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness. Fatherhood Groups, slated to start in May, will provide specialized supports to dads through the agency’s Padres Unidos Fatherhood Program. Additional classes are in the planning stages. All services are intended to be consumer driven and easily accessible.
The inaugural Los Alamos DBT group, “Express Your Stress, Enhance Tools for Your Success”, will launch on Thursday, March 4 from 1pm to 2pm. This, and subsequent weekly Zoom groups on Thursdays offer an hour of confidential discussion and a weekly module of study for use in parenting, work life or relationships.
“Ask a Specialist” workshops, scheduled for the second and fourth Fridays of each month, will bring occupational, physical, developmental and speech therapists as well as infant and early childhood mental health clinicians together to answer questions and present video, discuss concerns related to safety and stability, and assist with developmental screenings. The first workshop, which will focus on gross motor development for children ages birth to three, is scheduled for March 12 from 10am to 11am.
Las Cumbres Community Services, Inc. began in 1970 with a structured program of day habilitation services for developmentally disabled adults residing in Los Alamos. The agency added a therapeutic preschool for children in the Española Valley in 1979. Services for children, adults, and families have continued to expand since then in order to best meet the growing and changing needs of Northern New Mexico. Our offices are located in Española, Los Alamos, Taos, and Santa Fe. In 2019 Las Cumbres expanded to the Borderland Region of Las Cruces, El Paso, and Ciudad Juarez. Today, the agency is one of the largest social service providers in New Mexico. Education, outreach, and referral activities make a strong impact throughout the State and Country.