Outpatient Mental Health Services | Extended
Day Treatment | Eagle House | Therapeutic
Mentoring | Trauma Support Services
Outpatient Mental Health Services are part of the
Village’s continuum of care, offering a comprehensive range
of mental health and substance abuse treatment services within
the services of an affiliated system of care. The goal of the
services is to help children, youth and families to identify their
challenges and difficulties, recognize their strength, build on
it and fulfill the agency mission of building a healthy community
that can both protect and nurture children. Services aim to strengthen
the strength and apply the positive aspects of the children, youth,
and family into many aspects of their individual, family and community
life. All treatment is culturally competent, time sensitive, and
solution focused.
Treatment Options include group therapy, family
therapy, individual child therapy, child play therapy, parent
guidance, psychiatric evaluation and monitoring, and psychological
assessment.
Services are provided by licensed or license eligible
Social Workers, Psychologists and Marriage and Family Therapists
specializing in treatment of children and families, and board
of certified or board eligible child psychiatrists and a registered
nurse.
Children from ages 3 to 21 years of age are served
along with their parents.
Some examples of specialized services for children
and families offered through outpatient services include:
• Managed treatment for child abuse
and neglect, family violence, child and adult depression, hyperactivity,
school performance issues, and child management
• Immediate evaluation and treatment for victims of child
sexual abuse, non-offending family members and abuse reactive
children, as well as coordination of care with forensic and
child protective services.
• Intensive community-evidence based behavioral and substance
abuse services to children and adolescent provided at their
home.
• Juvenile Justice Intermediate Multidisciplinary Assessments.
• Nontraditional counseling services to children and families
affected by AIDS.
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What is the Phoenix Extended
Day Treatment Program?
The Phoenix Extended Day Treatment Program is
a comprehensive, intensive, clinical treatment service for children,
ages six through 12, who exhibit emotional and behavioral problems.
Extended Day Treatment is an alternative to residential care.
It enables children who are severely troubled and have histories
of chronic family problems to take advantage of our extensive
therapeutic services while living at home and remaining involved
with their local school for educational programming. The program
requires active participation on the part of parents because
parental involvement in therapy is considered to be essential
to a child's treatment. Our treatment services are also available
and beneficial for children in foster care.
What is the schedule for
Extended Day Treatment?
Children in the Phoenix Extended Day Treatment
Program are transported from their regular or special education
classes to the Village by agency personnel beginning at 1:30
p.m. daily. They remain at the agency until 6:00 p.m., receiving
therapeutic programming. The children
are then transported home between 6:00 and 7:00 p.m. (5:00 to
6:00 p.m. on Fridays). Nutritious afternoon snacks are provided.
What about the program staff
and its functions?
A staff of professionals including social workers,
child care workers, a nurse, a driver (for
parents and children), and psychological and psychiatric consultants,
provides treatment services for a capacity of children.
Our clinical/child care staff maintains a cooperative liaison
with school personnel to ensure continuity of care between each
child's school and the afternoon/evening program.
The program's staff is multi-cultural and can provide treatment
in both English and Spanish.
What does the Phoenix Extended Day Treatment
Program offer?
The Phoenix
Extended Day Treatment Program offers:
- Individual and group therapy for children
- Parent and family therapy
- Structured afternoon and evening activities
- Psychological testing and evaluation
- Psychiatric evaluation and consultation
- School consultation
- Year-round programming and services, including
summer school
- Transportation for children and parents
- Aftercare planning
- Motivational/behavioral programming
- Multi-cultural staff
- Bi-lingual instruction in English and Spanish
The summer program
Therapeutic programming continues during the summer
months when the State of Connecticut Department of Children
and Families (DCF) continues to pay the therapeutic costs. In
addition, we offer a seven-week academic program that includes
summer school for four mornings a week. Children served in the
program are typically academically delayed and benefit from
a continuation of educational programming over the summer. The
academic costs are funded by campership donations from community
corporations and philanthropic organizations.
How are referrals made to
the program?
Referrals for the Phoenix Extended Day Treatment
Program may be made by family members, school personnel, social
workers, psychologists and psychiatrists by calling Intake at
297-0555 or emailing intake@villageforchildren.org.
Program highlights
- Clinical/therapeutic focus
- Structured recreation and therapeutic activities
- Outreach to families
- Transportation for children and parents
- Comprehensive treatment as an alternative to
residential placement, including parent, individual and group
therapy
- Liaison with school personnel
- Summer program
How do you contact us?
For more information about the Phoenix Extended Day Treatment
Program, call or write to:
Phoenix Extended Day Treatment Program
The Village
1680 Albany Avenue
Hartford, CT 06105
p: (860) 297-0598, ext. 703
intake@villageforchildren.org
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Eagle House Sub-acute Residential Treatment Program
is a clinically based treatment program for children transitioning
from acute hospitalization to community placement in a biological
relative's home, foster home, or long-term residential program.
The goals of the program are to (1) bridge the gap between acute
inpatient hospitalization and home based, community based, or
residential services, (2) develop and strengthen the child's internal
resources, and (3) prepare the child for return to the community
through permanency planning, through advocacy for academic needs,
and by strengthening family and community supports. The average
length of treatment is six months.
The Eagle House Sub-acute Residential Treatment
Program provides a comprehensive therapeutic milieu experience
for behaviorally and emotionally challenged children ages 6 -
12 years old. These children no longer require acute hospitalization,
but do require additional stabilization before they can be safely
returned to home/community life.
The Program integrates individual and group treatment,
family therapy, parent training, psychological consultation, psychiatric
services, nursing services, and activity/milieu programming, including
recreational, educational, and cultural activities. Many of the
activities focus on skill acquisition, so that when children are
discharged from the Program, their therapeutic gains will persist
and generalize to other settings. A team approach - involving
Social Work, Psychology, Child Development, Psychiatric, Educational
and Nursing Staff -- is utilized to coordinate all aspects of
a child's treatment day.
The Eagle House will consider for admission children
between the ages of 6 - 12, who present with at least one DSM
-IV Axis I or Axis II diagnosis and who:
- Are transitioning back to the community from
a higher level of care,
- Require further intensive observation, evaluation,
and stabilization following discharge from a more restrictive
environment, and
- Present with at least borderline intellectual
functioning,
And who do not:
- Present an imminent threat to self or others,
or
- Require a 24-hour protected, locked, controlled,
or monitored environment.
Exclusion criteria:
- Children whose medical needs cannot be met within
the sub-acute residential treatment facility (i.e., are medically
unstable), or
- Children who are acutely psychotic.
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A Service of the Wraparound Program- Part of
Our Continuum of Care for Families and Children
What is Therapeutic Mentoring?
Therapeutic mentoring is a community-based,
supportive service offered to youth who are at risk of institutional
care or disrupting a home placement. It is a therapeutic approach
utilizing community resources, non-traditional methods of
intervention, and the strengths of a one-to-one relationship
with a trained, culturally-competent professional. Our approach
helps to maintain children and/or adolescents in the community,
while enhancing their level of functioning, preventing regression
of behaviors, and promoting development of needed coping skills
to manage stress, conflict, or change.
Appropriate Referrals Include Youth:
• From 4-17 years of age
• Needing a positive role model
• Suffering from depression, past trauma, or other
mental illness
• At risk of disrupting biological or foster care
placement
• With limited socialization skills
• With behavioral issues, i.e. oppositionality, lying,
aggression, etc.
• In transition from an intensive level of care to
one of less structure
• Whose overwhelmed families need respite time to
prevent disruption
What Services are Provided?
By the Mentor:
• Flexible hours: evenings/weekends
• Utilization of community resources
• Services offered year round
• Goal focused one-to-one interventions
• Transportation
• Recreational, educational, and cultural activities
By the Director:
• Collaboration with other providers
• Supervision for mentors
• Written progress reports upon request
• Updates on contracts
• Involvement in treatment planning
What is the Referral Process?
• Call Intake Services for new referrals
at (860) 297-0555.
• Program director contacts individual initiating
referral to review case, assess needs, and establish treatment
goals for the youth.
• The Program director will forward an individualized
contract for consideration of service.
• Referral source determines acceptance of contract
and submits written approval to the program director.
Children can be referred from the following
communities in the Greater Hartford Region:
Bloomfield
East Hartford
Farmington
Glastonbury
Hartford
Manchester
New Britain
Newington
Rocky Hill
South Windsor
Vernon
West Hartford
Wethersfield
Windsor
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Trauma Support Services includes The Violence
Intervention Project, The Robbery and Assault program, and
The Families of Homicide Victims Program. These programs provide
counseling and psychoeducational services for individuals
and families impacted by violent crime and other traumatic
events. The goal of the program is to help trauma victims
cope and recover from the traumatic experience, and return
to their former level of functioning.
How Trauma Support Services Helps
A five year old is watching her parents fight.
As she watches, Dad hits Mom with a bottle and Mom falls to
the floor. The child’s fourteen-year-old brother calls
the police. Who is called to help these children?
A woman with two young children finds out that
her husband has been murdered. She is so depressed that she
goes to bed at 6:00 pm and will not leave the house. Who is
called to help this family so that the children have at least
one parent to help them through this traumatic time?
A 10-year-old child is walking on a bike trail
with her mother and a friend. She is attacked by a man who
jumps out from behind a bush and tells the child he is going
to kill her. The mother of the child is able to beat off the
attacker, but the child is now having trouble sleeping and
getting along with others, and she doesn’t want to leave
the house without her mother. Who will help this child feel
free to play again?
A bank is robbed by two men. They have guns
and threaten to kill the two tellers on duty. The robbers
are given the money and leave the bank, but the tellers can’t
sleep, have trouble eating and don’t want to go back
to work. Who can the bank manager call to help these employees?
The Violence Intervention Program may be called
for the five-year-old and her brother. Responders are available
24 hours a day to go to the scene of a crime to debrief the
children, help them to talk about what happened, and help
them to feel safe again. The mother can be given referrals
to help keep herself and her children safe, and this family
will receive a call the next day to see how they are doing.
The mother whose husband was murdered can be
seen within 24 hours through the Families of Homicide Victims
Program (FOHV). She will be assessed for Post-Traumatic Stress
Disorder (PTSD) symptoms. The mother will be made aware of
financial compensation and encouraged to get medication if
necessary. The family can visit a counselor up to 10 times
to get whatever therapeutic help is needed. Symptoms are carefully
monitored so the children will have the continued support
of a parent who is grieving but is stable enough to relate
to them. This family may be seen individually, as a family,
or become part of a FOHV group that is held twice yearly.
They may come to the office or get services in their home.
The ten-year-old child may be brought to the
office by her mother. The child will be seen through the Robbery
and Assault Program, and is entitled to eight free sessions.
She will be able to talk about the attack and her fears while
playing therapeutic games.
The FBI may tell the manager of the Bank to
call Trauma Services at the Village. A debriefing for the
employees will be arranged. After the initial debriefing,
the employees may want to continue to meet and talk about
their ongoing fears and the loss of security they now feel
in their daily lives. A Robbery and Assault Group will be
held at the bank. This group is entitled to 10 free sessions.
These are just a few examples of how people
are helped in the Violence Intervention Program, The Families
of Homicide Victims Program and the Robbery and Assault Program.
Please call 297-0541 for more information.
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