Pasadena-based Children’s Charity Hillsides Hires New Clinical Coordinator

Youth Moving On (YMO), Hillsides transition-aged youth program for youth formerly in foster care or probation, is excited to introduce the newest member of its clinical team, Eshele Williams, Psy.D, LMFT. Williams will serve as the clinical coordinator. Williams’ work in the child welfare field includes experience as a licensed marriage and family therapist, parenting program coordinator, health team coordinator for children with chronic illness, author, public speaker, and adoption support program project coordinator.

YMO, located in Pasadena, is one of Hillsides four core programs, offering youth affordable quality housing and numerous support services to help them transition to successful adulthood.

Williams has served as the project coordinator of Adoption Promotion and Support Services at Children’s Bureau in Los Angeles and as the project coordinator of Project Fatherhood at D’Veal Family and Youth Services in Pasadena. She is experienced as a therapist, providing direct services to children, families, and patients in in-patient drug and alcohol facilities. She also supervised and trained staff who provided specialized education services for foster and adoptive parents along the foster care to adoption continuum.

She possesses extensive knowledge and skill in conducting interviews with children, families, and professionals. She is trained in implementing the Child Welfare League of America’s (CWLA) PRIDE Model of Practice to develop and support resource parents as team members in child protection, and in the CWLA Kinship Care – Traditions of Caring and Collaborating Model of Practice.

Williams has also written children’s books that help parents initiate and explore conversations with their birth children in preparation of the families’ foster care and adoption experience. In addition, she is experienced as a trainer on the impact of fostering and adopting on birth children and trains kinship care providers on the foster care and adoption experience specific to them.

“Williams’ work reflects a commitment to promoting social justice and permanency for children, especially for children of color,” said Thomas Lee, Hillsides division director of Transition-Aged Youth Services. “The entire YMO team is honored to have her share her talents with the staff and youth we serve. This is an important moment in the evolution of the YMO program and ensures the mission of Hillsides is realized.”

Hillsides, headquartered in Pasadena, is a premier provider of child welfare services whose mission is to provide high quality care, advocacy, and innovative services that promote safe, permanent environments where young people can thrive. Hillsides serves families and children throughout Los Angeles County, ranging from the Hollywood Hills to Echo Park to Baldwin Park to Pomona. For more information on Hillsides, please visit www.hillsides.org.