Gold Award: A treatment and education program for emotionally disturbed women and their young children. PACE Family Treatment Centers, Bronx (N.Y.) Psychiatric Center.

A treatment and education program for low-income mothers who are emotionally disturbed, PACE (parent and child education) helps women become capable of responsible motherhood and prevents functional disorders and learning disabilities in their children. In the format of a partial hospitalization program, staff provide a support network for the mothers that encompasses every aspect of their life; the women are provided assistance with problems of living as well as individual and group psychotherapy, classes on child development, and opportunities for therapeutic mother-child interactions. PACE staff also conduct a nursery school where children learn to develop a positive self-image, and work to ameliorate existing emotional and cognitive deficits. Approximately 40 families complete the program each year.