Jefferson Center for Mental Health (Jefferson Center) is my favorite community nonprofit and deserves the YourHub's Community Giving Award because they are nurturing families and truly making a difference in the lives of our community's children. Their annual program, Helping Kids Thrive, was started in 1990, and if it were a youth, would be qualified for it's driver license this year. Through this program, Jefferson Center has provided practical information and valuable resources to parents, grandparents, and other adults who work with children, to help children grow in happy, healthy positive ways. This highly successful event attracts hundreds of participants each year, and is provided free of charge.

Helping Kids Thrive is the only conference of its kind in JeffersonCounty. It was started by a coalition of community organizations who were concerned about the high incidence of teen suicide and prevalence of other destructive behaviors among local youth. Asset-building is the central theme and is integral to all keynote presentations, workshops, and materials. Its success is evidenced by the continued loyal participation of its sponsors, consistent high attendance and extremely positive evaluations from participants. Parents have indicated that the conference is "Fantastic! What a wealth of information...I learned skills I can actually use." And, it has "Excellent speakers who motivated (me)."

Workshops have addressed child development, as well as other timely and pertinent topics such as "Bullying", "Children with Special Needs", and "Take Care of Yourself: Preventative Maintenance". Each year, Helping Kids Thrive is tailored to respond to emerging community needs. The conference may be most beneficial to parents with limited resources, single mothers, and those with multiple risk factors. The conferences are held at various schools through the Jeffco school district. Last year, for example, it was held at AlamedaHigh School to make the event most accessible to the families throughout all of JeffersonCounty.

Jeanne Oliver, VP of Communications, Marketing and Development at JeffersonCenter, has been the heart and soul of this annual event. She has championed Helping Kids Thrive and dedicated her enthusiasm, staff time and resources since the program's inception. Helping Kids Thrive was developed in collaboration with the Jefferson County Educational Association. Helping Kids Thrive could not happen each year without the support of its generous sponsors and partner agencies: Jefferson County Administrator's Association, Jefferson County Public Schools Student Services, JeffersonCountyPTA , and PACCT.

About JeffersonCenter for Mental Health

JeffersonCenter for Mental Health is the private not-for-profit community mental health center serving Jefferson, Clear Creek and Gilpin counties directly west of Denver, Colorado. JeffersonCenter's mission is to promote mental health and provide quality mental health services to persons with emotional problems and/or serious mental illness. For nearly 50 years, JeffersonCenter has provided the highest quality mental health care and innovative programs to children and families, adolescents, adults, seniors, and individuals with serious mental illness.

Some of the other services for youth include:

• The ROAD
• School-based counseling
• And several juvenile justice programs

For more information about the Center, call (303) 425-0300 or visit their website www.jcmh.org. They just moved their main office from Arvada to Wheat Ridge: 70 Executive Center, 4851 Independence, Wheat Ridge, CO 80033.