This year marks a milestone for Oak Grove Center: 15 years of delivering Wraparound services to 1,545 youth and families across Southern California. Known for our deep commitment to family voice and culturally responsive care, the organization has become a backbone of support for those navigating complex behavioral, emotional, and mental health challenges.
Since launching our first Wraparound program in 2010 aimed at supporting families involved with the Child Welfare system, Oak Grove has steadily expanded our reach. Today, we operate three distinct Wraparound programs: Managed Care Wraparound in partnership with Kaiser Permanente, Educationally Related Mental Health Services (ERMHS) Wraparound funded through local school districts, and most recently, the Adoptions Assistance Wraparound Program, which supports families post-adoption as they transition into permanency.
Families as partners in care
What sets Oak Grove apart is our commitment to Wraparound’s 10 founding principles, especially the belief that families do best when they are seen as partners, not cases.
Each program is team-based and highly individualized, blending in-home, community-based, and virtual services. At the center of all three Wraparound programs is a Family Team, made up of a Parent Partner with lived experience, a Behavioral Specialist, a Facilitator who guides planning and coordination, and a Therapist. The goal is not only to stabilize youth at home, in school, and in their community, but to empower families to build lasting networks of natural support.
“Wraparound’s approach of including the whole family in the treatment plan – creating goals, addressing needs, and implementing treatment – is different from other mental health services that focus on one person’s problems in a silo,” says Tamara Trejos, LMFT, Wraparound Program Coordinator. “We take a non-judgemental approach to learning about the families, and we treat them with a positive regard no matter their history or situation.”
The new Adoptions Assistance Wraparound program is already making an impact and impression. Designed for families who have adopted through the Child Welfare system, the program design offers trauma-informed care that addresses attachment, identity development, and the complexities of post-adoption life. Parent Partners in this program often have firsthand experience as Adoptive or as Resource/Foster Parents themselves, offering empathy, guidance and coping skills rooted in personal understanding.
“Success belongs to the families”
Over the past 15 years, Oak Grove’s Wraparound programs have supported over 1,545 youth and their families, helping to improve relationships, create more stable homes, increase safety, promote higher levels of school engagement and achievement, and prevent crises. While the outcomes are impressive, it is the stories behind these numbers that resonate most: a caregiver who no longer feels alone, a student who finally finds their footing, a family that starts to find joy and connection again.
“Success belongs to the families,” Tamara says. “Wraparound programs are effective in supporting families to succeed because of our family-first approach to providing mental health and behavioral support.”
Fifteen years in, Oak Grove’s Wraparound message is clear and unwavering: families are the experts in their own lives, and with the right support system around them, they can go from just trying to survive to thriving together. To find out more about our Wraparound programs and the referral process, please contact Misty Kerrigan, Program Director, at mistyk@oakgrovecenter.org or call (951) 238-0545.