LEARNING DYNAMICS INC
Hope. Empower. Achieve. Learn. (HEAL)
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Learning Dynamics was started because just one child or adult struggling with mental illness or learning disabilities would be compelling. However, research suggests that 1 in 5 children and adults have a mental illness, and 1 in 10 have learning disabilities or attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
Sadly, the amount of children and adults with these difficulties have continued to increase over the years. While the rates are higher among people of color, when looking at everyone with a known diagnosis, over 50% of children and 60% adults do not get the treatment they need. Furthermore, it is estimated that 30% of children and adults are struggling to succeed without an understanding of the depth of their impairment or how to proceed, as they are undiagnosed.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Assessment Services
We offer comprehensive and culturally-appropriate testing to determine giftedness, learning disabilities, and other disorders and offer recommendations for improvement.
Behavior Services
Referred to as Butterfly Bootcamp and College Connections, our behavior services prepare children in preschool through college with unique learning needs for successful participation in school, career, and community. Our program is designed to strengthen people's intellectual, emotional, and social abilities through customized individual and small group interventions. Participants and their primary caregivers learn vital skills for navigating their complex social and professional lives.
Counseling
We offer evidence-based individual, couples, family, and group interventions to meet our clients' unique needs. Our therapeutic interventions assist people of all ages whose psychological, emotional, and/or educational difficulties are causing significant interpersonal distress. We offer superior services at reduced rates on a sliding scale.
Training & Consultation
We provide a variety of full-fee, reduced-fee, and free professional development and training opportunities to individuals, families, and helping professionals.
Where we work
External reviews
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of unique website visitors
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Stigma towards mental illness and learning disabilities can be reduced when community awareness increases. In support, we track the annual number of new visitors to our website.
Number of website pageviews
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Stigma towards mental illness and learning disabilities can be reduced when community awareness increases. In support, we track the annual number of pageviews on our website.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
We envision a world where high-quality, culturally-harmonious, mental health and educational services are affordable and accessible without stigma. We are becoming known for offering psychological and educational services that can be difficult to find.
Our goals are to:
1. Serve as a premiere choice for culturally-harmonious psychological and educational services.
2. Provide education, prevention, identification, and treatments that inspire, empower, and assist people of all ages in achieving personal wholeness.
3. Unite staff, clients, and community resources to meet the challenge of excellence in an ever-changing society.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Learning Dynamics is committed to incorporating research, legal and ethical issues, and a respect for diversity into our programs to inform new ways of thinking and doing. Our strategies for achieving our mission are accomplished in four ways:
1. Conducting assessments to identify learning disabilities, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, giftedness, Autism, and other forms of psychological discomfort.
2. Provide unique and customized treatments for people ages 4 and up that help them develop satisfying relationships, improve effective communication skills, and identify and resolve their difficulties coping with life's challenges.
3. Offer interactive workshops and seminars designed to increase the public's understanding and knowledge of mental health and educational issues and solutions.
4. Implementation of a graduate and postgraduate training program for helping professionals, refining their abilities to effectively service their clients and community.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Helping individuals and families overcome educational and psychological barriers to achieving their full potential, is the foundation for all our agency's programs. Our unique combination of expertise in education, psychology, and issues of diversity have resulted in the establishment of several partnerships with schools, universities, religious organizations, and helping professionals.
Our agency serves English and Spanish speaking individuals and families ages 4 and older, with the majority clients being 6-35 years old. Additionally, we understand that access to services can be a challenge. Therefore, we offer many community-based programs; bringing our services to those who otherwise may be limited by transportation or other barriers to accessing educational or psychological treatments.
Our clinical staff are uniquely qualified in being able to address language and cultural influences among different populations. Learning Dynamics Inc. staff aim to provide services not only in a client's native language, but also in understanding the influence of cultural context. While many mental health service and educational agencies can address language barriers, the number of persons who can competently address language and cultural influences is lacking.
Learning Dynamics provides psychological and educational services that can be difficult to find at rates 40-70% below other local resources. Targeting the absence of affordable psychological and educational services for the middle-class, Learning Dynamics has a robust sliding scale that requires a family of four to make over $148,000 to pay full price for services. Preschool through high school teachers, full-time college and graduate students, and individuals who have graduated within the past two years (e.g. high school, GED, vocation, college, etc.) receive the lowest rates; regardless of their family income. We are one of a few agencies that accepts private insurance.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
We are very proud that 95% of money donated is used to support our programs. More than half of the funds are used on sustainable items, helping the giver create a legacy that significantly impacts many.
Since opening our doors to the community, Learning Dynamics has accomplished a great deal:
- Vendored social skills services with two California Regional Centers
- Contracted as an in-network provider with public and private insurance companies.
- All staff have at least a master's degree in psychology or related field; with the majority having completed or near completion of a doctoral degree.
- Serve as a referral resource for many of colleges and universities (e.g. UCLA, Cal State LA, Pepperdine, Moorpark College) and private elementary and secondary schools in our area to assist in identifying learning disabilities among their students and providing realistic and effective educational accommodation recommendations.
- Partnered with Occidental College to offer a comprehensive behavior services program on-campus for their students with autism spectrum and attention-deficit/hyperactivity (ADHD) disorders.
- Provide in-service training for staff and constituents of other nonprofit agencies and schools on mental health and educational issues (e.g. strategies for managing special needs children in mainstream classrooms, examining when to refer children and their families for psychological services, developing positive peer relationships in adolescents).
While we are proud of our many accomplishments, we know we have more to do. Currently, we are working towards continued:
- Strengthening the agency's financial adaptability
- Cultivating staff's leadership and clinical knowledge to increase impact and employment sustainability
- Increase program and management capacity
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
maintaining professional ethics regarding feedback solicitation
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
LEARNING DYNAMICS INC
Board of directorsas of 01/04/2024
Mr. Marcus Brown
No Affiliation
Term: 2011 - 2024
Janet Lockhart
No Affiliation
Timothy Rogers
No Affiliation
Lizeth Lopez
Learning Dynamics
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? No -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
The organization's co-leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 11/07/2022GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.