Therapeutic Services
Young people at Youth Care therapeutic boarding school and residential treatment center for youth work with an experienced team of professionals. The team includes psychiatrists, psychologists, marriage and family therapists, social workers, chemical addiction counselors, a recreation therapist, professional counselors, certified secondary education teachers, certified special education teachers, and nurses.
At our residential treatment facilities, intensive therapeutic services begin the day the student is admitted to Youth Care. Upon arrival the student is interviewed, assessed and assigned a primary therapist. The primary therapist interacts with the child weekly during individual therapy sessions, family therapy sessions, and some of the group sessions. Additionally, at least once a week the child’s issues and needs are discussed during the multi-disciplinary team meeting.
During the first two weeks of treatment, the mental health and other educational professionals will conduct a thorough assessment of the student. The team will administer intellectual, academic & personality testing as part of that assessment. Prior therapists, school personnel and family members are contacted to obtain an accurate history.
Thirty days from the admission date, the multi-disciplinary team creates a Treatment Plan, which includes diagnoses and measurable goals that the team recommends the student achieve while in treatment. The treatment plan is discussed with the parents and the student and while the student is enrolled, the plan becomes the working blueprint for therapeutic interventions. This treatment plan in reviewed weekly and a formal report is written each month, which addresses the student’s current progress on treatment plan objectives and goals. In addition, parents access the Parent Check-In site for weekly updates on their child from each discipline – therapy, academics, medical, and home-side.
The primary therapist sees the student for Individual Therapy Sessions. Students at Youth Care receive three individual therapy sessions each week with their individual therapist. Each therapist at Youth Care uses a variety of approaches (i.e. cognitive, behavioral, systemic, humanistic, psychodynamic, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, solution focused) based on the personality and needs of the student. Often students form a strong positive bond with their therapist, which serves as a prototype and vehicle for healthy relationships with adults.
Youth Care utilizes a Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) approach with students who struggle to use effective coping strategies. DBT is an empirically based treatment model that has proven effective in treating such students. DBT students are empowered with a portable skill set that enables them to improve the quality of their life and sustain these changes into adulthood. DBT emphasizes a nonjudgmental, validation approach to treating students and their families. Some of the benefits are as follows:
- Focus on treating behaviors not diagnosis
- Validating, nonjudgmental approach
- Self-assessing skills and improved self-knowledge
- Portable skill set: Targeting emotional dysregulation, interpersonal effectiveness, distress tolerance, and mindfulness
- Behavioral consultation team
- Empirically based
- Individual, family and group therapy protocols
- Emphasis on relapse prevention
- Goal: Gaining a life worth living
Family Therapy Sessions are conducted weekly by the primary therapist either on site or via the speakerphone. The purpose of family therapy is to create opportunities for the family system to heal and change. The same therapist who provides individual therapy also provides family therapy. Family therapy typically provides the family opportunities to rehearse new behaviors and to give/receive feedback. Therapists assist the family with preparing behavioral contracts for the student’s return home.
Parent Days are held every six to eight weeks at Youth Care. Parents are encouraged to attend these programs. The program starts on Thursday mornings with a variety of activities: conferences, on-site family therapy, parent support groups, and multi-family groups. Parents will have time to visit with the members of the multi-disciplinary team that is treating their child. If the student is on the appropriate level, there will also be time for therapeutic leaves of absence (passes).
Group Therapy is conducted by a variety of therapists, each of whom has a unique style. All of the therapists who provide individual therapy also provide group therapy. We have found that this creates a dynamic, creative, and challenging therapeutic climate. Our group therapy sessions are a powerful arena for gaining insight about how each student’s behaviors and attitudes affect others. Students also gain a positive sense of peer support during group therapy sessions.
Youth Care is a residential drug treatment center and students who have used drugs or alcohol will participate in Substance Abuse Counseling. At Youth Care, students with substance abuse issues see the substance abuse counselor for one of the individual therapy sessions each week and meet with the substance abuse counselor in group therapy one time per week. The substance abuse counselor oversees the student’s progress in the 12-step model and helps the student incorporate relapse prevention training and positive coping skills into their daily living. Students also attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in the community two times each week.
Youth Care is an adolescent residential treatment center that can address the unique needs of a pregnant teen who is also struggling with emotional or behavioral issues. Often times, these girls exhibit high risk behaviors, low self-esteem, and poor coping skills. Youth Care has an extensive program to meet the needs of a pregnant teenage girl, including utilizing the "Baby-Think-It-Over" infant simulator, which is a life-like doll with realistic computerized responses that allows pregnant teens to experience some of the demands of infant care. This means that the baby will require constant supervision, feeding, changing, burping, and rocking. As the pregnant teen cares for the baby, Youth Care staff monitor and record the interactions, and the teen's parenting skills are reviewed and processed in individual, group, and family therapy sessions. Youth Care works closely with community agencies to educate the teen and the teen's family about the options and resources available to a teenage mother. Youth Care helps to facilitate ongoing medical care, on-site nursing checks, dietary consultations, and many other needs and services that a pregnant teen requires.
Students’ medical needs are addressed by our psychiatrists and nurses, who collaborate closely when providing Psychiatric Services. Our psychiatrist (physician specializing in psychiatric issues and medications) meet with the students one time each week to address and manage his/her medication needs. Our nurses meet weekly with the student to coordinate medical needs and to provide a regular assessment of the students’ functioning.
Youth Care believes that each child’s problems and care are unique and that it is impossible to standardize the length of stay. Therefore, when a child is enrolled at Youth Care, the initial contract is only for 30 days but is renewable monthly. Our average length of stay is 115 days with some students staying up to a year and a half. At the end of the stay at Youth Care, students may transfer to Pine Ridge long term adolescent treatment centers or move to a therapeutic boarding school setting, or return to intensive outpatient setting at home.
Youth Care will help orchestrate the next step for the child. Treatment progress and length of stay is regularly evaluated by the parents, outside counselors, and our entire multi-disciplinary team. This way, families are sure that the period of care will be no longer than necessary. For families, this approach to length of stay helps contain costs and allows the child to return home when ready.
