The Community Counseling Center at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks sees families in need of counseling who are struggling financially.

Yet counseling services are one of the first things that are eliminated from a tight budget, when a family may be most in need of psychological help.

Some families experience economic strain more than others and are seeing an increase in anxiety, depression, familial strife, conflicts at work and other signs of deterioration in psychological well-being.

Financial hardship is among the principal causes of familial and marital distress.

The Swift Memorial Healthcare Foundation has provided a grant so that the CLU Community Counseling and Parent Child Study Center will be able to help families pay for the cost of treatment that they could not otherwise afford.

The center offers counseling in Spanish and English to children, couples, families and individuals on a sliding scale with no client being turned away due to an inability to pay.

The center is open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays.

For more information about counseling services, call (805) 493-3390.