LOCAL COUNSELING PROGRAM HELPS TURN AROUND LIVES.

Byline: Ivan Sciupac Daily News Staff Writer

On the night Irene Brennick graduated from a 12-week counseling program, she vowed she would turn her life around.

The single mother of two had been on welfare and felt hopeless before she entered the program, Bridge Focus.

Eight years later, Brennick is back at Bridge Focus - this time, helping others turn their lives around.

``When I see people come in and I see the hopeless looks, I say, oh no, we can help them,'' Brennick said. ``You have to feel like you're worth saving.''

Brennick, now a college graduate, is the director of development at Bridge Focus, a nonprofit counseling organization. The agency focuses on helping single parents, welfare families, homeless and runaway youths find hope and achieve goals.

Bridge Focus is among the nonprofit charities participating in the Daily News' ninth annual Season of Sharing campaign. Readers can contribute directly to the charity, allowing it to help people during the holidays and throughout the year. The Daily News does not keep any of the money.

Bridge Focus, organized in the San Fernando Valley 27 years ago, serves residents and homeless people in Van Nuys, Sunland/Tujunga and Burbank.

For the last two years, Bridge Focus also has cooperated with the United Methodist Church in North Hills to sponsor sports, dance classes and English-language programs for the Valley's youth. The church also offers computer and job training for families in need.

``A lot of the families are good people and work hard, but they're not making any money,'' Brennick said. ``It can be hopeless.''

On Dec. 19, the church will host a Christmas party at which Bridge Focus volunteers will give away toys to more than 1,500 low-income children.

``We want to open it up to the whole community,'' Brennick said.

Bridge Focus concentrates many of its efforts on children and helps some find shelters or get home. The agency's Project Reachout uses vans to scout the Valley for runaways and homeless children.

Workers in another program, Children of the Night, find teen prostitutes and offer them on-the-spot counseling.

``It's a matter of catching them quick and getting them off (the streets),'' Brennick said.

Many of the people counseled by Bridge Focus are single mothers struggling to make ends meet.

One is Lisa Wade of Northridge, recently diagnosed with colon cancer. The mother of three has no medical insurance and needs immediate surgery. She works as a sales clerk but doesn't earn enough to pay for treatment.

Wade's supervisor and friend, Christine Fenn, called Brennick and pleaded for help. Bridge Focus counseled Wade on getting medical help and provided Christmas gifts for her children and food for the holidays.

``It's been really rough for all of us,'' said Wade, whose children are 8, 12 and 15. ``You now realize how much people care when there's a crisis.''

Brennick said a parent's illness is especially scary for children in a single-parent home.

``People don't understand what it's like to have young children, to be solely responsible for them,'' Brennick said. ``It's just frightening.''

Bridge Focus is hoping to raise over $200,000 next year to enhance its programs. The agency wants people to know that they have a chance if they come in for help.