Our Values

The Guidance Center honors our community and each other by being a center of clinical excellence and an employer of choice. To these ends, our core values are:

• Balance
• Opportunity
• Integrity
• Stability
• Creativity
• Humility
• Inclusivity

Balance: Provide clients and staff with the tools to support a healthy life in the areas of personal well-being, family, and work.

Opportunity: Promote personal and professional growth as clients and staff aim for success in becoming the best versions of themselves. Embrace and respond to change while maintaining the core values of our mission and vision.

Integrity: Exemplify our core values with transparency in our communication, honesty and respect in our relationships, and conduct ourselves in an ethical and professional manner.

Stability: Provide resources to help build a solid foundation toward emotional and financial sustainability for our clients, staff and agency as a whole.

Creativity: Utilize program development and trainings to support staff in implementing innovative programs to engage children and families.

Humility: Value each client as a partner in their treatment by seeing them as a whole person and supporting them without judgement. Value each staff member as a partner in creating a supportive, authentic and safe organization.

Inclusivity: Recognize the unique qualities and traits of each client and staff member and embrace their differences with compassion and respect.

Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI)

At The Guidance Center, we are committed to fostering a just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive environment where every individual—staff, clients, and community members—feels seen, heard, and valued. As a community mental health center serving primarily Black and Brown families, we recognize the systemic inequities that create barriers to care. We embrace our responsibility to reduce those barriers and cultivate cultural humility across our organization.

Through our JEDI work, we strive to uphold:

• Justice: Evaluate participation in unjust systems and practices and work to reduce barriers and promote fairness for staff and clients alike.

• Equity: Through our JEDI work, we acknowledge the impact of historical disadvantages on the lived experiences of staff and clients by providing tailored support, resources, and training that meet the needs of individuals.

• Diversity: Through our JEDI work, our goal is to ensure the intersectional identities of staff and clients, including their lived experiences, identities, abilities, knowledge, and perspectives, are reflected and represented.

• Inclusion: Affirm the value and dignity of all, make space for differing opinions, create a sense of belonging, and empower individuals to have their experiences and voices elevated.

This is lifelong work. Guided by compassion and accountability, we are dedicated to building a community where every child and family can thrive.

75 Years of Help and Hope