Changing Children’s Lives

Sheldon Brackett heads an agency dedicated to youth mental health.

As the executive director of Counseling4Kids Sheldon Brackett is passionate about ensuring future leaders of the South Bay community have the mental health resources they need so they and their families can thrive. Photo by Micheal Neveux

Sheldon Brackett, a computer systems engineer who worked in the tech industry for more than three decades, never expected to lead a community mental health organization serving children. But the recession and his response to a call for leadership changed Brackett’s career trajectory.

Laid off during the 2008 recession, he started a small business and joined the Torrance Chamber of Commerce for marketing and networking opportunities. He saw an announcement in a Chamber email seeking volunteer board members for Counseling4Kids. The organization provides home, in-office and school-based mental health services to underserved and foster children.

Their work resonated with Brackett. He and his wife, the parents of two sons, had recently completed classes to become foster parents. Brackett was accepted on the board in 2010. In 2016 he was asked to temporarily fill the role of executive director. “I’ve been here ever since,” he says.

Twenty years of management in his previous field and his board experience helped Brackett quickly transform the agency’s operations. First, he changed Counseling4Kids’ culture and then its service model.

Previously, contract licensed therapists worked for the agency. “This was their second or third job, and they weren’t invested,” Brackett says.

Counseling4 Kids now hires associate therapists. These recent master’s level graduates must complete 3,000 practice hours before taking their licensing exam. “That gives us people who buy into our mission and, more importantly, gives us the ability to train and develop future clinicians,” he says.

He emphasizes professional and personal development, which he believes is crucial to successful client outcomes. “We want our clients, after they’ve spent a year or so with us, to leave saying, ‘I have tools. I have coping skills. I have healing. I have what I need to deal with the reason I came here.’”

Brackett describes one withdrawn client who barely spoke to his mother or sister. The teen was skipping classes and doing poorly in school. “His mom saw how many of her son’s symptoms were reduced or eliminated through intervention and treatment. Their relationship turned around, and his school performance improved. And his younger sister was excited to have her brother back and active in her life.”

To supplement treatment and address what happens outside sessions, Counseling4Kids has begun providing parent workshops. The agency moved from an industrial location near the 110 freeway to a newer, brighter space across the street from Del Amo Fashion Center in 2022.

“We want to grow,” says Brackett. “We’re partnering with more school districts and have reestablished our outreach and development department. Ultimately, maybe five years from now, we hope to start looking for our own building.”

Brackett remains active in the Torrance Chamber, having held roles including Chamber Ambassador and chair of the Leadership Torrance mentorship program. In February he received the Chamber’s Resilience in Community Award, recognizing his efforts in shepherding his organization through challenges including COVID-19. He received commendations from dignitaries, including Torrance’s mayor, city council members, and congressmembers Ted Lieu and Maxine Waters.

Additional volunteer roles include a three-year stint as board chair for his church, a year spent mentoring a newly emancipated foster youth, and a week in New Orleans helping Habitat for Humanity rebuild a musician’s village following Hurricane Katrina. Brackett also maintains an active role in the lives of his 13 godchildren.

“I attribute my love for community to my late mother, who passed away in 2020,” he says. Seeing her regularly bring and serve food at her church and responding to her requests to assist the other church volunteers “instilled in me the idea that if you’re able to help others, it’s your responsibility, privilege and honor to do so. I’m grateful to her for that.”