Guidance Clinic/Trauma Response Success Stories

Five-year-old Eric witnessed teenaged boys break into his house and violently assault his mother. Eric was understandably traumatized by this event and believed that he needed to "get big so I can beat up other people and save my mom!"

Eric had difficulty expressing his fears and emotions to the Trauma Response clinician who arrived to work with him at the scene. However, once engaged in trauma treatment counseling at ChildSavers, Eric responded well through art and play therapy. He was eventually able to talk about the experience, regain a sense of safety, and dispel his feelings of anger. "The police came and helped me," he said to his clinician, "...and then you came and we colored and then I was safe."

Memorial Child Guidance Clinic [former name of ChildSavers] has a very special place in my heart because my husband, Pat McMahon, was one of your success stories.

When Pat was in high school in the late 1940s, he was "not performing up to his abilities." He tested with a high-level IQ but was failing classes (English, etc.) while making A's in Spanish. The administration at the school sent him to MCGC for counseling. Sadly, his family life was, to use today's language, dysfunctional – alcoholism, frequent loud arguments between his parents – you've heard this story before. Nothing Pat did was good enough. He was a very mixed-up young man. At MCGC, he found an adult he could talk with; one who would listen and who not only allowed him to have his own opinions but without judgment.

I am happy to tell you that even though he left school before graduation, he got his GED. He joined the Marine Reserves, had an active duty tour during the Korean War, and attained the rank of Sergeant. After his discharge, we married and he went to school on the GI Bill. We raised our family of five children, all of whom turned out well. He joined a Rescue Squad and was trained in First Aid and Civil Defense (which he later taught for the Red Cross). He also sang and acted in local theatres and became a Lay Eucharistic Minister in the Episcopal Church – he was a multi-faceted man.

He always spoke highly of MCGC and so I think you will agree with me that this is a true ChildSavers success story. Thank You, Thank You, Thank you!

Jan McMahon
May, 2006

Child Development Services Success Stories

Brenda, married to a blue-collar worker and the mother of a school-aged son, moved to Richmond from a small town in the late 1990s. With the birth of her second child, she was forced to quit her job due to the family's inability to pay for child care.

Starting with little more than a few used toys and the determination to succeed, Brenda decided to become an in-home child care provider to care for her own baby while contributing to her family's income. She learned of our many services, which are offered at little or no cost to individual child care providers, from the Virginia Department of Social Services. Brenda enthusiastically began the process to become a registered child care provider through our Voluntary Registration program. Throughout this process, we helped Brenda comply with health and safety standards and complete a criminal background and child abuse check. We provided her with a safety kit and enrolled her in workshops to help her improve her professional skills. Brenda was a natural, and we soon began to refer parents seeking quality child care to her.

Brenda participated in many of our training workshops and activities, including a program to help child care providers work with emotional and behavioral special needs children. Many providers are unprepared to handle such challenges, but Brenda is able to do so and has worked with many special needs children who flourished in her care.

Brenda continues to participate in our training activities and, in recent years, launched a Family Child Care Association that holds regular meetings and produces a newsletter. Her hard work and natural talent have resulted in a successful home-based business, and we are proud to have helped her achieve that success.

"We need to look at early childcare providers as educators."
Shelia Pleasants -- Executive Director of Southside Child Development Center

Shelia Pleasants, Executive Director of Southside Child Development Center, not only educates her children, she also educates her childcare providers.

“If it were not for Memorial Child Guidance Clinic [former name of ChildSavers], agencies such as mine – a non-profit, low- income, very budget-oriented childcare center – would not be able to have teachers certified and trained just because we could not afford it.”

Grants facilitated by Success by 6 (R) and the Early Childhood Development Coalition enable our Child Development Services staff members to offer training for childcare providers at a reduced cost. Currently, of Shelia’s 14 staff members, 4 have completed their certification process; 3 are in the final stages of the program; and 4 are on the waiting list.

Shelia was introduced to ChildSavers in 1990. As a day care provider, she participated in our Education and Training classes on childhood development. Sixteen years later, as Director of the South Side Child Development Center, Shelia encourages her staff to become certified professional childcare providers. Most of her employees stay with the center for five or more years, which is an impressive statistic. She welcomes the opportunity to offer her employees the chance to better themselves by receiving the Child Development Associate certificate.