A resident’s treatment team includes the child and their family/guardian, an attending psychiatrist, clinical therapist, residential counselors, nurses, teachers and recreational therapists. We work together to develop a treatment plan that helps each resident meet their goal for discharge. Treatment teams meet weekly to assess each resident’s progress.

Our milieu environment in the dorms and in daily interactions around campus is based on Risking Connection^®. This treatment method teaches a relational approach for working with children who have experienced trauma. Trauma is defined and experienced differently by different people. For example, moving to a new school may be a fun adventure for one child, but a devastating experience to another. We recognize the individual experiences of each child, and we utilize their unique strengths and resiliency to help them work through issues related to trauma.

Our treatment also uses a related program called Trauma-Informed Treatment: The Restorative Approach, based on the book of the same name by Patricia Wilcox. The Restorative Approach focuses on relationships, how attachments are wounded when certain behaviors occur, and how to restore that broken connection.

The Restorative Approach teaches empathy and helps children learn to correct their mistakes and “make things right.” This results in a sense of accomplishment and mastery of relational skills. It also relieves the child of the shame that so often results from the problem behavior and broken connections.

Our staff members model and teach the Restorative Approach, always striving for “connection before correction.” All of our therapists are trained in Trauma Informed Care, and we work closely with the Traumatic Stress Institute.

As part of our admissions process, we match a therapist’s area of specialty to the needs of each individual child.