History
Youth Empowerment Program
Since 2006, YEP has been providing psychosocial treatment groups to children and adolescents suffering from severe emotional and behavioral problems. All of its groups are self-contained and goal-directed with objectives that focus on empowering our youth to become all they can be. Many of our youth come from single parent and/or impoverished homes, the foster care system, or have experienced some level of trauma in their lives and are at risk of crossing into the Juvenile Justice System. All of them have special needs and have support systems that struggle to meet those needs.
Much of the focus of YEP is on breaking down those barriers to success and fostering a positive and rewarding environment, giving our youth hope that they can succeed. The treatment group objectives are designed to teach youth coping skills to achieve individual goals, including:
- improved daily problem solving
- social skills
- healthy lifestyles
- leisure-time activities
- enhancing personal relationships
- learning self-control
- developing anger management skills
As part of the YEP mission, we feel passionately that in order to meet our treatment goals it is important to treat both mind and body and truly believe in the efficacy of exercise related to mental health. In an effort to be as creative as possible we have begun to incorporate exposure to more healthy eating habits, as well as physical activity.
