Village Network opening new residential treatment center
The Village Network will open a new residential treatment center on its Wooster residential campus. The building will help youth facing severe psychological and behavioral issues who require intensive treatment in a short-term residential setting including individual, group and family therapy; psychiatric treatment; nursing care; and expressive therapies. It also will provide education through onsite schooling or tutoring, encouraging children to learn daily skills and thrive in a healthy social setting.
The installation is nearly complete. All that is left to do is to install the doors and fence.
“At The Village Network, we are resolutely pursuing our mission and collaborating with local and state authorities to combat this crisis effectively,” said Rich Graziano, president and CEO of The Village Network.
The new facility will be home to The Village Network’s highest level of care and add to its continuum of care. The building and program were born out of the mission “to work in partnerships to empower youth and their families to build brighter futures.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, adolescent mental health disorders are surging. In recent years the number of teens reported having a major depressive episode has increased by 60%.
Similarly, suicide rates among teens have jumped by nearly 60%. The child welfare and mental health systems are overwhelmed. Across the state stories are heard of children suffering from mental illness having to spend days in emergency rooms or in children’s services offices. The Village Network, in fulfilling its mission, is partnering with local and state officials and stepping up to be a part of the solution to this crisis.
Many of the children who will be served in this new program will be experiencing developmental trauma. Developmental trauma begins at a very young age while the child’s brain is still developing and perpetrated by someone the child is living with. Consequently, these children are becoming adolescents with little capacity to self-regulate, control their impulses, delay gratification, manage their emotions and even be in safe, trusting relationships. They are easily overwhelmed, sometimes by the most routine tasks and interventions.
In response to this, The Village Network has adopted clinical models that help these children develop the capacity to self-regulate — to control their impulses, self-soothe and manage their emotions: the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics and the Collaborative Problem Solving Approach.
“In Ohio and across the United States, there is an alarming rise in mental health issues among children,” Graziano said. “Sadly, approximately 140 young people with complex behavioral health requirements in Ohio alone are in out-of-state treatment facilities.
“To address this issue, we are constructing a unique Wayne and Holmes counties facility that will offer round-the-clock psychiatric care. This will be the first of its kind in the area, and we hope it will positively impact the community.”
For more information on community services at The Village Network’s Don Foster Center for Family Preservation, visit www.thevillagenetwork.org or call 800-638-3232.