GUIDANCE CENTERS

The GUIDANCE CENTERS, formerly known as Child Guidance Center of Greater Cleveland, incorporated on 1 Jan. 1927 as the city's first child psychiatric clinic, and offers outpatient psychotherapy, psychological assessment, and consultation/education to troubled children and their families. In 1924, with the help of the Welfare Fed. of Cleveland, the Commonwealth Fund, and the Natl. Committee for Mental Health, the Cleveland CHILDREN'S AID SOCIETY established the nation's sixth Demonstration Child Guidance Clinic here. Prompted by the clinic's success, in 1926 the Welfare Fed. authorized a separate Child Guidance Clinic to study and treat children's personality and behavioral problems. The clinic served children's camps and the CUYAHOGA COUNTY JUVENILE COURT, and also treated children with speech and reading difficulties until the establishment of the CLEVELAND HEARING AND SPEECH CENTER.

In 1940 the clinic changed its name to the Cleveland Guidance Ctr. and began to include research and professional training, in conjunction with area colleges. Half of its budget came from the state until 1961, when, fearing loss of autonomy, the center withdrew from state support. With private funding, the center built a new clinic in 1963 at 2525 E. 22nd St. (its 1993 location) and adopted the name Child Guidance Ctr. In the 1960s and 1970s, supported in part by the Cuyahoga County Mental Health & Retardation Board, the center expanded to serve schools, hospitals, daycare centers, women's shelters, and the CUYAHOGA COUNTY DOMESTIC RELATIONS COURT. An alternative high school, the School on Magnolia, merged with the center in 1982 to become the Eleanor Gerson School. With branches in BEACHWOOD and BROOK PARK, a Diagnostic Assessment Center at CUYAHOGA COMMUNITY COLLEGE, and a newly expanded main office, in 1991 the CGC served over 8,700 children and adolescents and trained or consulted with over 1,300 professionals. In 1995 the center changed its name to the GUIDANCE CENTERS.