ECHO
MALIBU to be FEATURED IN TEEN VOGUE MAGAZINES
YOUNG HOLLYWOOD EDITION
ECHO
MALIBU YOUTH TREATMENT CENTER is scheduled to be featured in the
May 2007 edition of Teen Vogue Magazine’s “Young Hollywood”
. The article will focus on Cocaine use among adolescent girls
and includes interviews with ECHO staff members and alumni chair,
Mary B. The edition is scheduled to hit newsstands in April.
ASHTON
KUTCHER/FOX TEVEVISION PILOT FEATURES ECHO
MALIBU’S JEFF NALIN and KARMEN KAMLA
ECHO MALIBU
co-founder, Dr. Jeffrey Nalin and Therapist, Karmen Kamla just
completed shooting a television pilot with the working title,
PARENTEEN. The show was produced by Ashton Kutcher’s company,
Katalyst Films for Fox Television.
Should
the series be picked up as a mid season replacement, each episode
of will focus on a family with an adolescent in need of intervention
and support to move away from any number of destructive behaviors.
Dr. Nalin and Karmen will be providing the interventions and support
along with Matt Wheeler (Known for his work on MTV).
According
to Dr. Nalin, the show will provide a unique opportunity to help
large numbers of families. “We are delighted to have an
opportunity to be part of
PARENTEEN. We are always looking for ways in which we can help
as many families as possible. PARENTEEN could provide us with
the chance to not only work with families in need, but to get
ideas and information about how to make positive changes out into
the world for families who see the show.”
Karmen
Kamla adds, “the Executive Producer is Gerry McKean, who
also produces NANNY 911. We have consistently been impressed with
the integrity of his work. We know that a lot of families with
young children have been helped by Nanny 911, and we hope that
PARANTEEN will provide the same opportunity for families with
adolescents”
Dr.
Nalin adds, “Ashton, Gerry and the executives at Fox have
been wonderful to work with. They have agreed to arrange shooting
schedules in such a way that our work at PARENTEEN will not interfere
with our work at ECHO. They understand that our work at ECHO must
remain our highest priority. Even if the pilot does not go to
series- we feel good about being able to help the family who appeared
in the pilot. The experience has been nothing short of fantastic.“
ECHO
WELCOMES NEW STAFF MEMBERS
DR.
STEVEN PETRUS, Psy. D.
Clinical Director
Dr.
Steven Petrus joins ECHO MALIBU in the newly created position
of Clinical Director. Dr. Petrus is a licensed clinical psychologist
who received his
doctorate of psychology from California School of Professional
Psychology and completed his postgraduate education at the University
of California Los Angeles with training in pediatrics, child,
adolescent, group and family psychology. At UCLA, Dr. Petrus received
specialized training in psychological testing. Additionally, as
a postgraduate researcher, Dr. Petrus worked with children with
prenatal substance exposure.
Dr.
Petrus is certified in Life Skills Crisis Intervention, a therapeutic
strategy for using crisis situations as opportunities to help
students learn alternatives to patterns of aggressive, disrespectful,
or self-demeaning behavior; and Aggression Replacement Training
(ART) an evidenced based Social Skill, Moral Reasoning and Anger
Management Group.
Before
joining the ECHO team, Dr. Petrus served as the Assistant Clinical
Director at a large, level 14 residential treatment center for
adolescents. In that capacity, he designed and implemented the
behavioral specialist programs and coordinated the psychological
assessment programs. As the Clinical Director of ECHO MALIBU,
Dr. Petrus will be responsible for insuring the integrity of all
clinical services.
ALLISON
HOPKINS, M.A.
Teacher
Alison
comes to ECHO MALIBU to fill the role of teacher for the on-site,
accelerated learning classroom. She holds a Masters Degree in
Counseling Psychology and has extensive experience working in
both mental health services and as a classroom teacher. Allison
is responsible for working with all of the youth at ECHO MALIBU
to insure that their academic needs are met.
ASA
GUSTAVSSON, M.A.
Therapist
ASA
holds a Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology. She has
devoted her career to community service, working with adolescents
who have emotional difficulties and/or chemical dependency issues.
Born and Raised in Sweden, Asa has traveled the world, resulting
in a high degree of cultural competence. Youth who enjoy extreme
sports will appreciate the fact that she is an avid snowboarder
and motor cross racer. She also enjoys and teaches more serene
activities to ECHO residents, such as yoga and meditation. In
addition, Asa will provide youth with a variety of clinical services.
ECHO OPENS NEW OUTPATIENT and DAY TREATMENT PROGRAMS
IN CALABASSAS
Echo
of Calabasas has opened it’s doors to serve the families of Calabasas,
1000 Oaks, Agora Hills, Lost Hills, Woodland Hills and other surrounding
communities in an outpatient setting. The programs will provide
outpatient and day treatment services to youth struggling with
chemical dependency issues, emotional difficulties and behavioral
health concerns.
According
to ECHO co-founder, Dr. Jeffrey Nalin the services are long overdue.
“For too long, the families of Calabasas and surrounding communities
have had no real treatment options. We hope that the creation
of Echo of Calabasas will fill a long standing void.” He went
on to say “The diversity and richness of treatment modalities
offered will be consistent with those that Echo Malibu is known
for. While we will offer such standard services as psychological
testing, individual, group and family therapy. We will also offer
additional services such as art therapy, music therapy, drama
therapy, acupuncture, biofeedback, parenting classes an on-site
classroom and tutoring, etc. The services will be provided by
a world class team of licensed professionals.”
Cole
Rucker, ECHO co-founder adds “We couldn't’t be more excited about
extending our services to any community. We have enjoyed a meaningful,
working relationship with the families of these communities through
our residential treatment program in Malibu. It means a great
deal for us to be able to provide the quality of services that
families have come to expect from us, in a location that will
be easy to access.” He goes on to state “In addition to providing
exceptional behavioral health and academic services, we will be
providing specialized tracks for under served groups such as adolescent
males with eating disorders and youth who engage in self injury
or “cutting”. We will also be hosting youth specific 12 step meetings
and providing free parenting classes.”
ECHO HOSTS NEW YOUTH 12 STEP MEETING
Echo
is now serving as host to a new youth 12 step meeting being held
every Monday night at 7:30pm at our outpatient facility located
at 24011 Ventura Blvd., Suite 101, Calabasas, CA 91302. The meeting
is exclusively for youth 18 years of age and younger. It is designed
to provide youth with a safe meeting space, sensitive to youth
culture. The meeting is supervised by ECHO staff members and open
to any youth in need from the community. For more information
on the meeting, please call 800 780 ECHO.
ECHO OFFERS FREE PARENTING CLASSES
ECHO
is offering free parenting classes to any interested members of
the community. The classes are offered on Wednesday nights between
7:30pm and 9:00pm, at the new outpatient facility located at at
24011 Ventura Avenue, Suite 101, Calabasas, CA 91302. Classes
are taught by our certified Parent Effectiveness Trainers, utilizing
the techniques pioneered by Dr. Gordon Thomas. While the classes
are free, reservations are required, as space is limitied. To
sign up for the free classes, call 1-800 780 ECHO.
