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When Beth Hart, of Princeton's Family Guidance Center Corporation says, "We do a lot of things," it seems like an understatement.

This agency brings together many diverse services. Among them are outpatient mental health and substance abuse treatment, after-school programs for children who are dealing with emotional difficulties, a day school for children with emotional and behavioral problems, a consumer credit counseling service, and family preservation services.

Billing itself as a "non-profit consortium of behavioral health care services," the Family Guidance Center was created in 1993, following the merger of the Community Guidance Center of Mercer County, and the Family Service Association of Trenton/Hopewell Valley, both of which had served the area for many years.

Its professional staff includes teachers, social workers, psychologists, nurses, counselors, and a full-time medical director. Adapting itself to the changing needs of the community it serves, the agency purchased the Lanning School in Ewing as the site for both its Children's Day School and Children's Day Treatment. Almost 150 students ages six through 14 are served by these programs.

Those attending the day school participate in academic and therapeutic programs designed to meet their specific needs. These students may be autistic, or suffer from behavior disorders or multiple handicaps, that have made them unsuccessful within standard classroom settings. The goal is to eventually return them to their local school systems, after their particular problems are addressed, a process that takes on average two to three years. "Local school districts from all over Mercer County are the sending districts, and they pay the tuition," explains Hart, the agency's director of grants and development.

Family Preservation Services provides intensive in-home family education and crisis intervention, noted Hart. A counselor goes into the home for up to six weeks, and tries to maintain its continuity while attempting to avoid placement of the children in foster care or institutional settings.

Problems addressed within this program may involve child abuse and neglect, developmental- disabilities, substance abuse, mental illness, and delinquency.

Mental health and substance abuse are treated under the program called Behavioral Healthcare, which provides mental health and psychiatric care to children and adults through individual, family and group counseling services. There are also psychiatric evaluations and medication for such problems as clinical depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder.

The agency's Consumer Credit Counseling Service recently became HUD certified,

Hart noted. This program's goal is to help individuals and families attain financial self-sufficiency, through the teaching of money management skills, and by encouraging responsible use of credit. Another focus, Hart adds, is offering financial education for first time home buyers.

The Substance Abuse Treatment Services, with locations in Hamilton and Trenton, provides outpatient drug and alcohol treatment for young people and adults. Components include weekly outpatient counseling sessions, an adolescent recovery program, a 16-week drug awareness and education group for DWI offenders, drug testing, and HIV testing services.

The Family Guidance Center, working with the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, developed the Mercer County HIV Consortium, a state and federally funded program serving those suffering from HIV/AIDS.

Through its work with Trenton's Henry J. Austin Health Center, the agency provides behavioral healthcare services at the Austin facility for low income and underinsured clients.

Following 9-11, the Center was chosen by United Way to distribute financial assistance, and provide counseling services to individuals and families affected by the attacks, as well as for victims of the anthrax crisis.

The mission of the Family Guidance Center is to provide every client with high quality services in the areas of mental health, addictions, education, and financial and family counseling, according to their individual needs, and to ensure that these services are delivered in a way that is both fair, and compassionate.

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