DE is highly committed to making a real difference for children and families in West Michigan. We specialize in behavioral health and only behavioral health – and strive to do it better than anyone else. We serve West Michigan communities only – we are the local choice.
We understand the unique needs of children and families, and we will go above and beyond to help ALL children to reach their full potential. We are continually adjusting our treatments to ensure real, and meaningful progress.
In our assessments and treatments, we are interested in the whole child, not just the problems and challenges. We value the uniqueness of each child and integrate that into treatment.
We value families and importance of family involvement.
Our goal is not to be the biggest Behavioral Health organization. Our focus is on the quality and outcomes of our services to children and families.
The clinicians at DE have a deep understanding of child and adolescent development which allows us to individualize treatment and promote meaningful growth.
Children and adolescents love coming to DE because we designed the treatment space for them. While we have private offices for some of the treatment, we also have fun treatment areas where kids can move –like a gym, sensorimotor room, small and large play rooms, and even a castle.
We value collaboration with other professionals involved in a child's treatment. Some clients are able to obtain multiple treatments under one roof.
Our clinicians are specialists as opposed to generalists so we can address issues with the expertise required for more complicated challenges.
DE's professional staff is specially trained and highly experienced in evaluating and treating children and adolescents with all types of challenges. Our partnership with other providers in West Michigan allows us to coordinate multidisciplinary assessment and treatment.
Throughout our history, DE has been highly committed to hiring and developing staff who share our passion for helping children and families.
That passion is really the foundation of DE.
Our staff is very committed and deeply invested in each child and adolescent that comes to us for help, as well as to the families who put their trust in us. That is continually reflected in our relationship-based treatments and the efforts and commitment of our staff as they work with children to achieve goals, promote growth, and help each child reach their full potential.
Dr. David Laman founded DE after more than 20 years of working with children and adolescents who were experiencing all sorts of developmental, emotional and behavioral issues. His desire was to develop behavioral health services that were truly built around the needs of children and families. All too often, children are treated as though they are mini-adults. Nothing could be further from the truth. Children and adolescents are continually developing physically, mentally, emotionally, socially, etc. The first word in our name is "developmental" for a reason. Everything we do is from a developmental perspective, whether we are dealing with differences in development, emotional issues or behavioral challenges. All of our assessments and treatments consider where a child is developmentally and how development can be promoted. Facing challenges is a normal part of development and is critical for healthy development. That aspect is reflected in the second word in our name, "enhancement". The word enhancement reflects our commitment to promoting growth. While children are typically referred for treatment due to "problems" in behavior or emotional functioning, we do not believe that the goal should be to simply eliminate the problems. We believe that issues are there for a reason, and that to be effective in treating them, we have to identify and treat the underlying causes of the issues. It is highly important to DE that our focus remains on the whole child. Children should not be defined by their challenges or diagnoses. Each child is unique, all children have differences and all children face challenges. Keeping the focus on the whole child helps ensure that building a child's strengths is as important as helping them overcome any weaknesses. For more than a decade, DE has been developing and growing based on this philosophy. It is a big part of who we are and it is our driving force as we serve hundreds of children and families each week.
To be the best we have to have the best.
The outcome of treatment is directly related to the quality of the clinician providing it. That is why DE has been so committed to hiring and developing clinicians who not only have a passion for our mission to help children and families, but also who have the training and experience to truly be experts in their fields. We take a similar approach to hiring our administrative staff and behavior technicians. To be the best we have to have the best.
We are very proud of our DE Team and welcome you to take a look and get to know them better.