FACES is committed to providing counseling, educational groups, and other services including  Supervised Visits and Safe Exchanges program. We rely on the strength of community volunteers and university partners as we provide continuing education to licensed therapists.

​

BACKGROUND 
The idea of FACES was conceived in 1988. Working first in Superior court with divorcing families, the visionaries saw first hand a need for more services than a two hour mediation visit. The families they worked with were angry, lonely, worried about their children. They often had little community resources to send families to after mediation. They observed how children were shuffled back and forth, experiencing parents with problems. The women knew that these traumatic experiences may endure throughout their lifetime. At that time there were few resources specifically for the single parent family in transition.

 

So the founders envisioned a place where children and parents would have easy access to affordable counseling and learn to how to strengthen their reconfigured families, and they got to work. 

Mary O'Connor, MFT a single parent, along with co-founders Shelley Driscoll and Cheryl Ramirez, pooled their resources and invited other community members to get involved to begin a journey that has led to thousands of families that have received help and healing for over three decades. Our community spirit has encouraged hundreds of volunteers to contribute time and donations to the agency. 

​

F.A.C.E.S. was incorporated in 1992 with the help of attorney John (Tripp) Smith, JD who wrote our incorporation papers, Richard Ronsko who created our sign outside,  Jan Harris, who served as operations manager, Shelley Driscoll, business manager and all the original interns and trainees. With donations of generous community activists, and a loving group of community citizens who believed in the cause, FACES had its start. 

 

The Family Law Courts respect the agency for its tireless work over the years. Attorneys are grateful to have places like FACES to refer families to while they are in crisis from separation and divorce. 

Social Services partners with FACES to help families reunify and build better parent/child relationships. 

​

IMPACT
This past year, FACES assisted more than 5,000 parents and children through direct services and reached hundreds more through outreach efforts. Our outreach in Los Angeles and Orange County communities brought an increase of parents accessing free or low cost services. Spanish-speaking therapists presented several workshops on substance abuse to parents of grade-school children.  Our volunteer fundraising staff created and manage community races, fairs, and events and interacted with 4000 attendees. We partner with Orange County Superior Court and Social Services and Schools. F.A.C.E.S. Press published "ABC's of Anger Management," the text for our Anger Management classes. 200 family members have used the book, and the book has also been distributed to court personnel for review. ​

​​

Statement from the CEO/Executive Director
F.A.C.E.S. is the only non-profit agency in Southern California that specializes in offering counseling on a sliding-scale basis focused on families in crisis of divorce.

 

Services include counseling for couples and families, children, anger management, parenting services, co-parenting counseling, reunification family counseling, supervised visitations, and job-seeking skills for families separated due to violence.  

 

We are tremendously grateful for all the support in time, volunteer efforts, and dollars to keep FACES alive and thriving in our communities. With your generosity, we can work together to continue to help more families. 

 

We at FACES thank you for your interest and support!