Every year, The Guidance Center provides mental health services to 2,400 families and children across the greater Long Beach area. And given the nonprofit’s wide and important reach, was only fitting that they expand to a significant space that will accommodate them more comfortably while making their work more efficient.
On Wednesday, The Guidance Center finally opened doors on its new lime-green-and-grey home at Anaheim St. and Pine Ave., an upgrade from their former space in Bixby Knolls that was less than half the size of the new one. The move also consolidates many of the organization’s services and will allow them to provide everything under a single roof.
The renovated building, reused from a former warehouse-turned-thrift-store that kept many of its walls and beams intact, is an array of saturated brightly colored walls, private therapy rooms, play rooms and conference spaces. The contemporary design–lines of straight windows surrounded by stamped conrete–adds much needed color and form to the neighborhood, particularly after the shuttering of New City School’s Pine Ave. campus and the ongoing revitalization of North Pine.
Most importantly for the Guidance Center, however, is the fact that the new location centralizes the services that the Guidance Center provides to clients, who range from toddlers to senior citizens.
Patricia Costales, Executive Director of the Guidance Center, emphasized the importance of mental health as well as its complexities, while urging the need for more accessible and comprehensive spaces to practice.
“People’s mental health needs are complex,” Costales said. “If a small child has an ear infection, the prescribed treatment is typically Tylenol… [However], if that same child is removed from his parents for abuse or neglect, the way he emotionally responds to his foster placement and the way we help him to feel and function better can vary greatly by child.”
The Guidance Center’s central office is now located at 1301 Pine Avenue. For more information or inquire about their services, call 562-595-1159.
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