Mountain Counseling & Training (MCT) was created in 2012 to serve the mental health needs, and improve outcomes, for at-risk and underserved youth in the mountain communities of the Rim of the World School District. Since then, we have managed a multitude of cases serving as a crucial support for our community and gaining capacity to serve in local schools, offices, home based as well as virtual environments. We serve kids and families that suffer from trauma, substance abuse, home and school environmental factors, among other issues.  Unfortunately, domestic abuse is too common in our region, with incidents of domestic violence increasing by nearly 60% in San Bernardino County over the last ten years, and an 8% increase in the last year alone. We aim to act locally to help bring these numbers down, and can give individual attention and support to kids and families most at risk of experiencing abuse, neglect, or other traumas.

We aim to provide continuous and consistent support through strength based, family-centered, trauma informed approaches that include counseling, skill streaming, and providing resources to kids and families of the mountain.  MCT provides these services to our community in order to potentially lessen some of the greatest problems that can challenge young lives and crush the talent, voice, and future success of our youth.

MCT is the only youth Medi-Cal counseling service on the mountain, and it is our purpose to serve the mental health needs of youth and their families who have no other resource or avenue. Poverty and its challenges can itself be an alienating and disenfranchising condition. Only by empathetic and local understanding will we meet the needs of the economically disadvantaged, foster youth, and families impacted by social issues and mental health challenges. By beginning to address these problems in targeting pre-intervention strategies such as education, MCT has the opportunity  to equip parents and caregivers with the resources necessary to bring greater health, success, and stability to the next generation. We can help root that success in the community by simple preemptive methods such as educational training.