They Put the “Home” in “Youth Homes”
Youth Homes’ Short-Term Residential Therapeutic Program (STRTP) provides safety and care for youth who are unable to thrive in their homes. Our team of nineteen residential staff work around the clock to provide a healing environment for our youth, yet few have the opportunity to see the tremendous effort that keeps the program and our home running smoothly.
Our Facility Shift Leads - Akilah, Autumn, and Meghan - and Case Manager, Patrice, each have at least ten years of experience at Youth Homes, and a combined total of 57 years between the four of them. Their number one priority is ensuring our youth are safe, but they also handle the day-to-day needs of our clients, schedule their activities, make sure they celebrate special birthdays and holidays, and take care of everything else that keeps the house together. Each of them found their way to Youth Homes for different reasons, but they all have one thing in common – their passion for our youth and ensuring they leave Youth Homes healthier than when they arrived.
These ladies’ extensive history with our agency allows them to reflect on the changes that shaped the STRTP into what it is today; providing mental health treatment for youth rather than using the home as a “shelter”, implementation of screening to avoid client conflict and regression as much as possible, acknowledging the boundaries that our team needs to maintain in order to provide the best care, and receiving the necessary support from leadership.
Akilah, Autumn, Meghan, and Patrice are proud of how far Youth Homes and the STRTP have come over the last few decades. They continuously receive training that helps them learn more about mental health and themselves. Our youth have more support because our team has more support, and the program is more trauma-informed than ever before.
They share that the biggest challenges facing STRTPs everywhere are that there aren’t enough in operation, and there isn’t enough funding for the ones that are. The residential team fears that the short-term model further teaches youth to run from their problems rather than commit to healing, as it often leads to them bouncing from placement to placement. They wish that the clients who begin to stabilize, work through their trauma, and feel safe at Youth Homes could stay longer if needed. However, government regulations are more focused on the duration of a youth’s stay, as funding is limited and continues to be cut.
Despite these obstacles, this team still has the privilege of witnessing many positive transformations in our youth - from learning to control their emotions to going to college, building careers and families they never thought they could have. The reward of knowing they’ve made a difference in these young people’s lives is what has kept Akilah, Autumn, Meghan, and Patrice at Youth Homes for so long. Not to mention the support of their team, who constantly helps them navigate this challenging work.
Thank you to our entire residential team for providing our clients with incredible care and support!