Children’s Center has new home

Grand Opening Celebration

• When: 4 p.m. Sunday, July 12

• Where: 13500 S.E. Seventh St.

Did You Know?

• The Children’s Center opened in 1989 at an office in downtown Vancouver.

• It treats more than 800 children each month.

• Clients receive therapy for conditions including depression, trauma, anxiety and suicidal ideation.

The walls in the lobby of the new Children’s Center in east Vancouver are painted a soft blue-green, and the furniture follows the same cool color scheme. From the lobby, clients walk into a hallway with a bright seascape mural made of fused tile.

“That was very intentional,” said Matthew Butte, development director at the mental health clinic for young people and their families.

A lot of thought and input from counselors went into making the new space in Cascade Park feel therapeutic, from the wall colors and art to all the windows that let in natural light. Not to mention, the space is much bigger; the lobby alone is about four times the size of the one in the old downtown Vancouver location.

Getting a new space was something the Children’s Center had in mind 10 years ago, Butte said, but the economic recession put those plans on hold. A capital campaign was reignited with a $1.2 million state grant, along with several large donations from some familiar names such as the Firstenburg Foundation, the Tod and Maxine McClaskey Foundation and the Marilyn Moyer Charitable Trust (where the building gets its name).

The Children’s Center sees more than 800 children each month for treatment of depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation or trauma from abuse. The former location in downtown Vancouver had staff and clients split between two buildings, whose combined square footage is about half of the new 15,000 square-foot building.

“That was the reason we moved. We’ve outgrown that space,” Butte said. “There’s certainly no sign of the need decreasing.”

And, an analysis showed that most clients come from the east side of Clark County, making the building at 13500 S.E. Seventh St. a more central location. It also would have been cost-prohibitive to renovate the old building on West 11th Street in a way that provided everything they were looking for, Butte said.

New Heights West bought the old building, which shares a parking lot with the church.

“We’ve got some space to do some things we weren’t able to do before,” Butte said.

Every therapist gets an office. Before, therapists shared offices, so children would end up in different offices each time they came for a therapy session. Now, they get the consistency of coming to the same space each time, Butte said.

There’s also a therapy garden on the property that features plants, benches and a fountain.

“When we were in downtown Vancouver, therapists would sometimes take children on a walk to the park,” Butte said. Without a park in easy walking distance of the new location, the landscaped area was the next best thing. Sometimes, children have an easier time opening up to their therapists when they’re outside.

There are still boxes to unpack, art to be displayed and new furniture to unwrap. Also, a pair of art therapy rooms still need to be equipped with supplies and toys that help with self-regulation.

Clients have already expressed appreciation for the new building and the community donations that made it happen, Butte said. In the lobby, there’s a board of plaques listing donors.