Residential Treatment

The Residential Treatment Programs of Family Resources are located on the 10 acre campus known as the "Wittenmyer Youth Center" at 2800 Eastern Avenue, Davenport, IA. The Wittenmyer Youth Center is located in the center of the City of Davenport, Iowa along the public bus route. The Wittenmyer Youth Center campus is home to seven (7) enhanced residential treatment facilities known as Newcomb, Shelton, Leslie, Bridge House, Anchorage House, Victory House and SUMMIT. These programs provide treatment for children who are unable to live in a family situation. Children residing in our facilities receive a high degree of supervision, structure, and therapeutic services.

Wittenmyer Youth Center is a NON-SMOKING CAMPUS. Smoking is not allowed in any building, parking lot or on the grounds of campus.

Vision

An environment that challenges and empowers.

Mission

To create an empowering environment that challenges others to realize their potential and make responsible choices by believing in:

• Supporting one another

• Emphasizing strengths and solutions

• Linking resources

• Fostering teamwork

• Residential Treatment Philosophy

We believe there is no such thing as a bad kid, only kids who have had bad luck and have made bad choices. Our job is to help kids get back on track, assist them in building a strong foundation for their life, and develop the behavioral habits necessary to return home or to a lower level of care. This begins by maintaining an environment which provides for the safety, security, care and well-being needs of the children in the context of their day being filled with positive, emotionally corrective, and normalizing experiences. When a past resident becomes a good neighbor, family member, parent, and citizen, then we know we have been successful.

Residential Treatment Methodology

The role of Residential Counselors is to provide behavioral management for problematic behaviors while focusing on assisting the young person in learning, applying, and realizing the motivation necessary to exhibit social skills and healthy emotional coping. Residential counselors are hyper-vigilant, so they can catch kids doing well and then reinforce this at a ratio of at least four times for every response cost given to a child. Individual and group therapists assist the young person in developing healthy thoughts, beliefs, attitudes and perceptions as well as working through troubling emotional and mental conflicts and events. Best practice approaches are utilized with the specialized treatment populations:

• TruThought with youth exhibiting irresponsible thought patterns

• Gorski and AA with youth struggling with substance dependence

• Ross Greene with residents struggling with neurological difficulties

• Aggressive Replacement Training (ART) model to alter the behavior of aggressive youth, reduce anti-social behaviors, and offer an alternative of pro-social skills

Intra-agency (i.e. Rape Sexual Assault Program, Domestic Violence Program) and inter-agency (i.e. psychiatric consultation through Vera French, Center for Drug and Alcohol Services) resources are incorporated into a child's treatment to help fill gaps in services not available directly by the residential programs.

Finally, but most importantly, the child's family and others important to them remain a significant part of their life through visits, phone calls, re-integration activities, collaboration, and family therapy.