The Phoenix Treatment program provides a safe therapeutic community for youth that assists them to develop the skills necessary to live successfully in the treatment community and to provide effective support and transition services that facilitate their successful return to the community of origin.
Treatment typically consists of up to six months of residential stay in the program. Treatment consists of individual therapy for all youth, family therapy when return to the family is the goal of treatment, competency groups, group therapy, recreation therapy, school and individual tutoring and assistance, individualized goals and support for daily living and other services.
Phoenix is designed around cognitive behavioral restructuring, holding youth accountable for their choices and actions, with the focus being on assisting youth in identifying the relationships of their thoughts to their choices and actions, and identification of thinking errors. Youth who demonstrate cognitive distortions that have led to delinquent actions appear to do best in this type of program.
Phoenix is based on a strength-based, family focused and skill-building model that integrates components of several evidence-based modes. These include Motivational Interviewing, Multi-Systemic Therapy, Oregon Social Learning Center’s Multi-dimensional Treatment Foster Care, and group skill building that focuses on skill training and practice that extends into the overall milieu of the Phoenix treatment program. The model targets the reduction of research identified risk factors predictive of continued delinquent behavior and the strengthening of protective factors.
Family Therapy in the Phoenix Program
In Phoenix family therapy we work with the family to provide a safe and secure environment in which each family member’s point of view, concerns, hopes, and dreams can be expressed and heard by others. It is a place where problems that the youth is facing can be addressed. It is also a place where the youth’s accomplishments can be appreciated and supported. Family involvement also includes family participation in monthly Master Service Plan team meetings. These meetings present an opportunity for the team, which includes the parents and youth, to assess the progress that is being made and, also, to identify the areas that need improvement.
Family therapy is closely tied in with home visits and provides the opportunity for the youth and parents to review and solidify progress in the family and community as the youth moves toward graduation from the program.