IRVING N. BERLIN CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTER New Perspectives

Posted: Apr 28, 2004, 10:55

Los Lunas, New Mexico
Rosella McCaffrey, Admissions Director
505-866-9271
www.theberlincenter.com
(online in early May)

The Berlin Center is a new residential treatment program for children ages 5-14 who are diagnosed with attachment disorder. CEO and Clinical Director, Linda Zimmerman, LPCC, founded the Berlin Center. The Center accepts children who lack emotional bonds or empathy with family and peers, depression, anxiety, withdrawal, mood disorders, dramatic mood swings, poor impulse control, resist authority, lying, manipulative, controlling behaviors and adoption issues. The program ranges from six to 18 months with a maximum of 13 residents.

The mission of the Center is to “help children form healthy attachments by creating an environment to facilitate close, intense personal relationships, while confronting behaviors that interfere with that closeness.” At the Berlin Center, children attend school five days a week with a full of range academic components covered through individual tutorials or group activities. The Center offers an extensive art program designed to help children develop creativity, thinking and life skills. The Center also offers a separate home-based service component called “Connections,” which designs and teaches effective intervention strategies to families, and may prevent or reduce the time needed for residential placement.

Located on a farm near Albuquerque, the Center offers an Animal Care Program to supplement the educational program by allowing the child to understand himself/herself and the effects his/her thoughts and feelings have on others. The staff includes professionals from several fields of expertise including several with extensive backgrounds in attachment disorders, psychology and education.

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