History of the Child and Youth Study Center
Child and Youth Study Center and the Center on Disabilities and Human Development
History of the Child and Youth Study Center
Approximately ten years ago, the State of Idaho made changes in the mental health service models for children. These changes resulted in substantial increases in the number of families needing assistance. In an effort to address the shortfall in services, Dr. W. Rand Walker established the Idaho Child and Youth Study Center. Walker saw the change in State policy as an opportunity to improve the quality of care to underserved families and to provide needed training to doctoral level students/interns interested in working with children and youth.
Since that time, the Center has become a valuable community resource and is now training an average five to seven doctoral level students/interns and one to two school psychology masters students each year. We have been able to address the lack of services regionally to individuals with limited resources and have established a reputation as a high quality alternative to the University of Washington and the Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland. As a result, we have had a direct impact on restoring the stability of families, maximizing the potential of numerous children and youth, and have helped young people at-risk rebuild a path to a positive future.
We are strongly committed to providing multiculturally competent services focusing on cultural awareness, knowledge, and skills. We ascribe to a "positive psychology" model that emphasizes concepts such as resilience, flow, competence, and contribution to others.
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Child and Youth Study Center and the Center on Disabilities and Human Development
Consistent with other Centers for Excellence nationwide, the Center on Disabilities and Human Development has created a clinical service center to address a regional lack of assessments, consultation and treatment for children; services that historically have been available only in Seattle or Portland. The University of Idaho Child and Youth Study Center provides a resource that ensures that Idaho residents with developmental disabilities, pervasive developmental disorders and other chronic disabling conditions are identified and have local access to services, education and research.
Our services are made available to families and agencies with limited resources at a cost determined according to individual needs and ability to pay. Reflective of the Center on Disabilities and Human Development’s mission to provide training, the program is staffed primarily by advanced doctoral students/interns from the respective universities with supervision provided by faculty. The University of Idaho Child and Youth Study Center is operated in conjunction with a number of clinicians and faculty from both the University of Idaho and Washington State University.
Our future goals for the Center include:
- Establishing more comprehensive services for providers and parents
- Development of specialized skills for chronic disabling conditions
- Establishing specialty clinics which rotate into the region for team consultations and individual staffing
- Developing treatments for a variety of conditions related to developmental delays, educational impairment and children at risk
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