Our History
Tahoe Youth & Family Services is a private non-profit organization whose mission is:
“To promote the healthy development of children, families, and individuals through counseling and support programs.”
Tahoe Youth & Family Services began serving youth and families as a response to a growing heroin overdose epidemic among youth in South Lake Tahoe in October 1971. It was incorporated as a non-profit organization under Section 501(c)3 on July 28, 1975, under the original name, The Awakening Peace. Staff at The Awakening Peace operated a drug and alcohol diversion program to promote sobriety in the community. Recognizing the need for counseling services, and with the absence of available resources on Lake Tahoe’s south shore, The Awakening Peace began offering low and no-cost mental health and substance abuse counseling services to the community.
The organization changed its name to Tahoe Youth & Family Services in 1989 after receiving federal grant funds to provide Basic Center Program outreach and support to homeless and runaway youth. Our organization’s current operations include, but are not limited to:
- Individual Mental Health and Substance Abuse Counseling;
- Substance Abuse Groups for Adults, Nevada
- Mental Health groups for Teens & Children, Nevada
- Individual Assessments
- Substance Abuse & Mental Health Assessments
- A.O.D. Court Ordered Evaluations
- Behavioral Health Counseling Services in local schools and at the El Dorado County Juvenile Treatment Center in South Lake Tahoe;
- Primary Intervention Program in South Lake Tahoe Elementary Schools
- Play Therapy for young children;
- 24-hour Crisis Line for runaway, homeless, and street youth to access emergency shelter;
- A California Basic Center Program and Drop-in/Resource Center providing supportive services for runaway, homeless, and street youth;
- Emergency shelter via host homes for youth up to the age of 18;
- Referrals between community-based and governmental agencies through Memorandum of Understandings and contract
- Rapid Rehousing Program to connect transitional aged youth experiencing homelessness
- Transitional Living Program for young adults, ages 18 - 24
Tahoe Youth & Family Services’ expansion as a regional service provider began with the opening of a Gardnerville, Nevada office in 2008 that offered mental health counseling and substance abuse prevention and treatment for residents of Douglas County. Tahoe Youth & Family Services also opened a second Drop-In Center in the Gardnerville Ranchos which includes a drug-free skateboard park in an area notorious for youth drug use and delinquent behavior. Tahoe Youth & Family Services organized a community-based mentoring program in Douglas County to increase preventative services for at-risk youth.
The mentoring program spilled over into neighboring Alpine County, California that same year due to the proximity and similarity of the two communities and despite a state border between them.
In 2018 - 2019, due to changes in Federal Funding and changing community needs, funding for several programs in both Douglas County, Nevada and Alpine County, CA ended. Tahoe Youth & Family Services took this opportunity to re-evaluate our programs and services. Tahoe Youth & Family Services choose to concentrate our energies on Mental Health and Substance Abuse Counseling in both Nevada and California along with continuing to provide Homeless Services for youth and Housing for Transitional age youth, ages 18 - 24 years in South Lake Tahoe, California.