The Guidance Center Announces Alyssa Bray, LMFT as New Chief Clinical Officer

The Guidance Center, a nonprofit child and family mental health service provider headquartered in Long Beach, announces Alyssa Bray, MA, LMFT, as Chief Clinical Officer (CCO).

Bray comes to The Guidance Center from Elijah's House Treatment Center where she served as clinical director, overseeing inpatient and outpatient substance abuse programs for adults. Over her more than 20-year career in community mental health, Bray has provided counseling to children of all ages and their parents who struggled with mental illness and abuse, directed a variety of programs for adolescents, and directed clinical quality assurance and compliance departments for agencies with more than 400 employees.

As CCO of The Guidance Center, Bray oversees the overall direction and vision of clinical services for the nearly 3,000 children and parents served by The Guidance Center’s staff in its three clinics, local schools, and co-located partnerships throughout greater Long Beach, Compton, Lynwood, Paramount, San Pedro, and Avalon on Catalina Island. These clinical services include individual, group and family therapy, crisis intervention, case management, community education and outreach, and intensive mental health treatment.

As The Guidance Center is contracted with Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (DMH), Bray also works closely with the agency’s program managers to ensure all clinical service delivery programs adhere to the standards, compliance and productivity set by DMH.

“Alyssa is a terrific addition to our team at The Guidance Center,” said Patricia Costales, LCSW, CEO of The Guidance Center. “She is passionate about and experienced in helping children of all ages and their families succeed. And having worked at contracted agencies for much of her career, she has intimate knowledge of DMH programs. We’re excited to partner with her to continue working to create a community where all children have the help they need to be happy and healthy.”

In the early years of her career, Bray worked with children aged 4-to-12-years-old who were abused and neglected, and displaced from their homes. She then provided in-home counseling to children of all ages, who had been abused and neglected, and parents throughout South Central, Watts, and Compton areas.

With a passion to help children of all ages, Alyssa then worked extensively with adolescents on probation struggling with substance abuse, gang involvement, teenage pregnancy, and being displaced from their homes. She has also directed a number of programs including day rehabilitation for adolescents on probation, community mental health, aftercare, Full Service Partnership (FSP) for Transitional Age Youth (TAY), and transitional housing.

More recently, Alyssa directed clinical quality assurance and compliance departments for agencies with more than 400 employees, including training all clinical staff on paperwork and overseeing internal and external audits. She also served as Quality Improvement Committee Chair and Agency Liaison for Service Area 4 Department of Mental Health contracted agencies for nearly eight years.

“I strongly believe in the mission and vision of The Guidance Center,” said Bray. “My hope is to build upon the depth and breadth of services provided, with a particular emphasis on services shown to achieve positive outcomes. These would include assisting and collaborating with other community members in a way that would support our most disadvantaged children and families struggling with issues of mental health or abuse.”

Alyssa earned her Master of Clinical Psychology from Antioch University, Los Angeles and her Bachelor’s in Psychology from UCLA.

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About The Guidance Center

Established in 1946, The Guidance Center provides comprehensive mental health treatment to nearly 3,000 children and families in the communities of Long Beach, Lynwood, Compton, Paramount, San Pedro and Avalon annually. The Guidance Center offers individual, group and family therapy, crisis intervention, case management, community education and outreach, and intensive mental health treatment. Headquartered in Long Beach, The Guidance Center also has clinics in Compton and San Pedro. For more information on The Guidance Center, please visit www.tgclb.org.