Systemic Trauma and Relational-Therapy (S.T.A.R.) is a new program specifically designed to meet the needs of adolescent girls within the juvenile justice system. S.T.A.R utilizes aspects from current evidence-based practice to help adolescent girls meet their specific needs.
- Dialectical Behavioral Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
- Trauma-Informed Best Practices
- Expressive Arts Therapy and Relational techniques
- Systemic Home-Based Model focusing on family dynamics.
Services are provided where the needs are for the child, at home, in the school, and the community to strengthen the village around the family and increase resiliency. Services include Individual and group trauma-informed treatment to meet mental health and trauma needs specific to meet at risk girls’ need for emotional regulation skills.
Each youth will receive four to five hours of intensive therapy per week.
- 2 hours per week of intensive DBT skills training
- 1 hour per week of intensive family therapy- family dynamic focus
- 1 hour per week of individual therapy- Skills and trauma processing
- Up to 1 hour per week of case-management for coordination of systems, Probation, DHS, School, Community Programs.
The duration of treatment will be approximately six months. The first three months will primarily focus on learning DBT skills of Core Mindfulness, Distress Tolerance, Emotional Regulation, Interpersonal Effectiveness and Walking the Middle Path in order to help teens and their family better manage their emotions and decrease self-harm, suicidal ideation, running away, and physical violence. The last three months will focus on trauma processing and maintaining improved coping skills and emotional-regulation. The S.T.A.R. team will continue to offer booster sessions to youth who have graduated from the program.
HOW CAN S.T.A.R MEET GENDER SPECIFIC NEEDS?
S.T.A.R will address specific emotional-regulation problems that are often evident in girls who are violent, due to their higher risk of mental illness and exposure to trauma. The violence occurs most often occurs within the family. S.T.A.R. will work with families to identify and strengthen coping skills and emotional-regulation problems within the family system. The S.T.A.R therapist will work with the parents to improve rule setting, communication skills, and increase warmth and nurturance between parent and child. Research has shown that females are better served in the community as opposed to residential settings. Residential settings struggle with meeting the emotional and developmental needs of young women.
How will S.T.A.R. teach emotional-regulation skills?
- S.T.A.R will utilize an adaptation of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy in order to help the girls’ and their families better manage their emotions.
- S.T.A.R will utilize expressive arts techniques and trauma-informed care in order to help develop positive coping skills and process trauma.
- S.T.A. R will work within relationship to help girls’ and their families learn other ways of relating and decrease relational aggression.
- S.T.A.R will develop a safety plan with all the important members of the girls’ village to ensure the safety and well-being of these emotionally reactive girls.
At this time S.T.A.R is exclusively for court referred youth.
269-588-3167
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