Central Star supports parents and caregivers to help them deal with the challenges they might face personally and as a parent. We work with children at home, at school and in the community so they are equipped to manage their past experiences in a healthy way and to thrive. The staff at Central Star Community Services works from the belief that children, adolescents and their parents should participate in treatment as a family. We offer a team approach to treatment that is based on establishing relationships with families, foster families and others who know the child best. Care is provided by dedicated and experienced staff including licensed psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and therapists. Our staff is bilingual and bicultural, and services are respectful of the culture of the children/youth and their families. Services are delivered through a multi-agency collaborative approach that is grounded in a strong community base.

Services include:

• Wraparound – Click here for more about this intensive community-based approach
• Individual therapy
• Group therapy and family counseling
• Crisis services 24/7
• Case management
• Rehabilitation therapy
• Medication management and support

We work with families in the following ways:

• Provide training and techniques to help with problem solving, behavior and anger management, social skills, communication, and more.
• Work with children of all ages to improve peer and family interactions, as well as school attendance and participation.
• Provide individual counseling for both parents and children, including services for those who may have a history of trauma or have other mental health needs.
• Help parents understand how a child’s (and a parent’s experience) may affect the child’s functioning and development.
• Connect people with community resources, including vocational resources for young adults.
• Offer multi-family groups with between five and eight families with the child present (per appropriate age).

Who Qualifies for this Community Services Program?

Services are available to children ages birth to 21-years-old and their families who are in the Fresno County Child Welfare system and include:

• Children in foster care or who are at imminent risk of foster care placement, and
• Those who have a mental illness or condition that has been documented or, would have been documented if an assessment had been made, and
• Those needing individualized mental health services that can include professionally acceptable assessments, behavioral support, case management services, family support, crisis support, therapeutic foster care, and other medically necessary services in the home or in a home-like setting.
• Those with an open child welfare service case; and
• Full-scope Medi-Cal (Title XIX) eligible; and
• Those who meet the medical necessity criteria for Medi-Cal Outpatient Specialty Mental Health Services
• Those currently in or being considered for wraparound, therapeutic foster care, specialized care rate due to behavioral health needs or other intensive Early and Periodic Screening Diagnostic and Treatment (EPSDT) services
• Those currently in or being considered for placement in a group home (Rate Classification 10 or above), a psychiatric hospital or 24-hour mental health treatment facility (e.g., psychiatric inpatient hospital, community residential treatment facility); or who have experienced three or more placements within 24 months due to behavioral health needs.

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Central Star Crisis Residential Unit (CRU)

Central Star Crisis Residential Treatment facility (The CRU, pronounced “crew”) is a voluntary short-term, 16-bed residential program for adults ages 18-59 experiencing intense emotional distress or serious psychiatric crisis. The CRU provides recovery-based treatment options, services, and interventions in a home-like setting. More…

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Merced County

Central Star Crisis Residential Unit (CRU)

Opening in early 2019
Pronounced “crew”, a short-term 16-bed center serving six counties for adults experiencing mental crisis who might otherwise face hospitalization and/or incarceration. More on the Central Star CRU…

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Contact Info

Central Star Community Services
2934 N Fresno St
Fresno, CA 93203
Phone: (559) 549-6697
Fax: (559) 354-0160

Jennifer Seidel, LMFT
Administrator
Community Services, Teammates Wraparound, Transitional Age Youth
3433 W Shaw Ave, Suite 102
Fresno, CA 93711
Phone: (559) 892-1128
Fax: (559) 354-0160
Email: jseidel@starsinc.com

Central Star Psychiatric Health Facility (PHF)
4411 E Kings Canyon Rd, Bldg. 319
Fresno, CA 93702
Phone: (559) 600-2382
Fax: (559) 475-7866

Deborah Tobias-Gatewood, LMFT
Regional Administrator
3433 W Shaw Ave, Suite 102
Fresno, CA 93711
Phone: (559) 892-1128
Fax: (559) 354-0160
Email: dgatewood@starsinc.com

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