Depression Treatment Center for Adolescents & Teens in Utah

Youth Care Treatment Center and school has helped teens with depression all over the United States for 30 years. Our unique approach is based off of solid morals and beliefs to help adolescents be successful in turning their lives around.

Depression Treatment

Learn more about depression treatment at Youth Care Treatment Center in Utah

For parents of adolescents or teens, it can often be difficult to discern between the normal struggles of teen life and the presence of a depressive disorder. Every adolescent or teen will occasionally experience sadness, hopelessness, and related emotions; however, when these feelings occur with a frequency or severity that impacts their ability to function in a healthy and productive manner, a depressive disorder may be to blame.

Adolescents or teens demonstrating the following: apathy, sleep disruptions, change in appetite, overwhelming sadness and despair, withdrawal, and a sense of hopelessness or helplessness may be experiencing a depressive disorder that requires professional intervention from a depression rehab center. At Youth Care Treatment Center in Utah, we understand the unique challenges faced by adolescents struggling with depression. We have developed highly effective depression rehab at our treatment center designed to help adolescents or teens overcome the issues that prevented them from achieving their greatest potential.

How to Help a Loved One

Helping a loved one get treatment for depression

Being the parent of an adolescent or teen exhibiting symptoms of depression can be a confusing and frustrating experience. The following steps can help you in your efforts to ensure that your child has the help and support that they need through their depression rehab:

  • Understand two important facts – this is not your fault, and you are not alone. The behaviors that your child is exhibiting are not evidence of poor parenting. Depression is a treatable mental health condition that impacts many adolescents or teens and families throughout the world.
  • Educate yourself about depression in general and the specific ways that depressive disorders can affect adolescents. Take note of any potential depressive symptoms your adolescent or teen may be demonstrating.
  • Research the types of treatment provided at centers that have helped others who were dealing with depressive symptoms that your child is demonstrating, and identify the treatment centers that appear to provide the care that best meets your child’s unique needs.
  • Consult with your child’s pediatrician or your family doctor. While these professionals may not specialize in mental or behavioral healthcare, they can be a source of reliable information and referrals.
  • Plan to be an active part of your child’s treatment and recovery. Admitting your child to a residential treatment center does not mean that you are giving up on them; instead, you are taking the right step forward to help your child or adolescent.

In conclusion, remember seeking depressive rehab at a treatment center may just be the first step in a long journey. Leave no doubt in your child’s mind that you will be with them every step of the way.

Why Consider Treatment

Why consider treatment for depression at Youth Care Treatment Center in Utah

Depression, when left untreated, can have a devastating impact on any person’s life. When this disorder impacts an adolescent or teen, the effects can truly be life altering. Depressive disorders affect an adolescent’s or teen’s energy, focus, and motivation. These qualities are essential to making progress in school, developing healthy friendships, and building the solid foundation that will prepare an adolescent or teen for a successful and satisfying adulthood. The setbacks that an adolescent or teen experiences because of untreated depression can inflict lasting harm on their physical and mental health, academic progress, and future career prospects. In addition to the dealing with depressive symptoms, adolescents or teens struggling with untreated depressive disorders are also at increased risk for problems such as substance abuse, self-harm, and suicidal ideation.

Our Philosophy

Youth Care Treatment Center philosophy and benefits

At Youth Care, we believe that teens in crisis are best served in a home-like setting that emphasizes personalized interactions, close supervision and comprehensive professional support.

In this supportive therapeutic environment, students benefit from the guidance of caring professionals who know them not merely as clients, but as unique individuals with specific strengths, weaknesses, hopes and fears.

The Youth Care environment is built upon a foundation of mutual respect. Our students are expected to treat staff and peers with respect and in return they can expect to be treated with respect.

Staff members are trained to apply consequences and provide feedback for students in a respectful manner without demeaning or belittling the adolescent.

We feel strongly about the value of long-lasting family relationships, and we believe that family involvement is critical to the success of the child, both while in treatment and following placement.

To support these beliefs, our program is designed to help students develop a greater appreciation for their own families – and we strive to include the family in the therapeutic process as much as possible.

Here are our five core values:

  • Respect – for our patients, our employees, and our community
  • Integrity – in our dealings with all those whose lives we touch
  • Accountability – to our patients and their families, and to our colleagues
  • Responsibility – for the decisions we make and the actions we take
  • Excellence – in every task we perform

Types of Treatment

Types of depression treatment offered at Youth Care Treatment Center in Utah

Youth Care, a depression rehab treatment center in Utah, provides residential depression rehab care in a peaceful setting. In this comfortable, therapeutic environment, adolescents or teens are able to receive the depression rehab they need in a realistic, family-like atmosphere that is fully conducive to true and lasting healing. At our depression rehab center, we are pleased to offer individualized depression rehab treatment tailored to meet each adolescent’s or teen’s unique needs and enhance their already-existing skillset.

Treatment at our depression rehab center is based on accountability, responsibility, and respect. A level system is used to provide constructive feedback to the adolescents or teens as they learn to show respect by displaying appropriate behaviors and earning privileges and increased levels of trust. This connection between accountability, responsibility, trust, and privilege is an important life lesson that can be used in our students’ future relationships and can be implemented as they achieve future successes.

At our depression treatment center, we believe in honoring the adolescents or teens who are entrusted into our care by helping them understand the choices they have and the natural consequences that can occur as a result of the choices they make. We believe that this not only helps our students learn good decision-making skills, but it also enhances the confidence they have in themselves by showing them that they are capable of making those good decisions.

Throughout an adolescent’s or teen’s time spent at the treatment center at Youth Care for depression rehab, they will have the opportunity to participate in the following interventions:

Medication management: The use of certain psychotropic medications may be beneficial in alleviating the distressing symptoms that adolescents or teens experience as a result of depression. Whether or not medication is used, will always be determined on a case-by-case basis, depending upon the particular needs of each adolescent or teen. Adolescents or teens at Youth Care will meet with a psychiatrist once a week, and all medication management needs will be handled by our treatment center’s psychiatrist and nursing and medical teams.

Individual therapy: Intensive individual therapy is a core component to the depression rehab process at our treatment center. Adolescents or teens have the opportunity to meet with their primary therapists three times each week. Additionally, they can meet with an addictions counselor once per week if they are also struggling with substance abuse concerns.

Group therapy: Group therapy sessions play a major role in the depression rehab treatment plans of our students at Youth Care. Group sessions are held on a daily basis at our rehab center and are broken down as follows:

  • Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) groups are held 1 time each week.
  • Process groups are held 3 times each week.
  • Music therapy groups are held 1 time each week.
  • Addictions groups are held 1 time each week.
  • Recreational therapy groups are held 2 times each week.

Family therapy: At Youth Care, we feel strongly that family integration is key in helping our students manage the symptoms of depression. Because of this, we work hard to ensure that our students’ families are heavily involved in the depression rehab treatment process. Family therapy sessions are held once each week and are led by each student’s primary therapist.  Additionally, Parent Days are held every 6 to 8 weeks, offering educational seminars, multifamily group therapy, parent support groups, family therapy sessions, and family recreational activities.

Recreational therapy: When students engage in treatment for depression rehab at Youth Care, they will be offered a well-rounded approach to treatment that incorporates recreational activities into their schedules. Recreational therapy is designed to help students have a successful treatment experience by achieving physical, cultural, and social accomplishments. Recreational rehab activities at our depression treatment center also provide students with opportunities to learn valuable skills such as teamwork, problem solving, communication, and trust. Through participation in recreational activities, students can build better social, communication, coping, and interpersonal skills. They may also develop newfound interests, discover unknown talents, and experience an improvement in their self-esteem. Under the guidance and supervision of our licensed recreational therapist, students participate in community and in-house depression rehab recreational activities 3 to 7 times per week.

Experiential  Our treatment center may also include the following experiential depression rehab therapies, if the student’s primary therapist determines that participating in such therapies is appropriate and beneficial to the adolescent’s or teen’s journey. The frequency of these experiential depression rehab therapies will be determined by each student’s primary therapist and may include the following:

  • Expressive therapy
  • Exposure therapy
  • Situational

Community service activities: All Youth Care students, including those receiving treatment for substance abuse and addiction, will also be involved in community service activities at least twice each month. We have found that having adolescents or teens participate in such activities gives them the opportunity to develop greater empathy and a broader understanding of others, both of which can aid in their own recovery. Examples of the community service activities that students may participate in include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Filling shelves at the Food Bank
  • Visiting the elderly
  • Caring for animals at the Humane Society

Academics: A central tenet to our center’s depression rehab is our commitment to providing adolescents or teens with the opportunity to achieve academic success with our academic program. Our academic program is fully accredited, which allows students to earn school credits, increase their knowledge, and work towards achieving academic goals during their time at Youth Care. Students are enrolled in a full day’s curriculum, which takes place in a traditional academic setting and is led by a team of certified teachers and special education teachers who have been trained to work with adolescents or teens possessing a range of learning abilities. All students have academic goals and objectives included in their individualized treatment plans, and they will attend school from 9:00am to 5:00pm every weekday, with therapeutic interventions being interwoven throughout their daily schedules.

In addition to the residential depression treatment, Youth Care also offers partial hospitalization programming (PHP) for adolescents or teens who do not require the intensity of the programming that is offered in a residential setting. This daytime treatment option allows youth to attend the same daily programming as those receiving residential treatment, yet return home at night.

If your adolescent or teen is suffering from depressive symptoms and requires a safe, structured, and encouraging environment, our depression rehab treatment center may have the solutions that you and your child have been searching for. Youth Care provides a life-changing opportunity with our depression rehab for your adolescent or teen to overcome their depression. Our specialized depression rehab programming will be catered to meet your child’s every need so that they can succeed in living the full, happy, healthy, and productive life that they deserves to be living.

Marks of Quality Care
  • American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM)
  • Cognia
  • National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs (NATSAP)
  • The Joint Commission (JCAHO) Gold Seal of Approval

Now I can sleep at night. My son is safe and finally moving forward after three other residential facilities and weekly therapies of all kinds - for years - in three different countries.

– Linda C.