The current trend in residential care has been to ensure that all youth receive the most effective intervention possible, given the youth’s risk and needs. Woodward Academy has made this a priority within our treatment curriculum and out Trauma Informed environment. The Academy has placed a strong focus on identifying the criminogenic needs and responsivity factors that are directly linked to the child’s criminal behavior. This has assisted us in developing a comprehensive and personalized care plan within 3-5 days after admission of the student. Woodward Academy provides an extensive array of therapeutic interventions utilized in addressing our students’ current treatment and mental health needs. Many of these interventions are provided through: a team of individual and family Master’s level and licensed therapists; a team of Bachelor’s level individual, family, and group skill development counselors; psychiatric consultation and medication management with a consulting psychiatrist; and psychiatric reviews with a Board Certified Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner. The diversity of the services that we are able to offer definitely show our commitment to the needs of our students. We are continuously developing new curriculum and enhancing our evidenced-based treatments available in order to ensure that students are receiving the best treatment possible.
A student’s program will be designed to offer a variety of trauma sensitive, cognitive-behavioral, and social learning treatment modalities designed to impact youth within a pro-social campus environment. We use an evidence-based sociological model that uses positive influence to elicit and reinforce appropriate behavior. Treatment interventions will be identified for individual youth based on the goals of the Individualized Treatment Plan. This means that not all youth will participate in every treatment modality or at the same dosage. The treatment components will be content specific to meet the identified needs of youth through assessment. Treatment involves didactic and written work that is integrated with individual and group processing, skill building, and family therapy (as indicated). All treatment will be connected to each youth’s identified level of risk and correspond to the needs and vulnerabilities of each youth, including their level of motivation, personality characteristics, age, gender, race, ethnicity, and vulnerabilities including mental health, developmental, or cognitive abilities.
Clinician Team
Students referred for clinical therapy, receive services from our Clinical Team. Woodward Academy has a team of Clinical Therapists with a variety of advanced degrees, licenses, certifications, and areas of treatment interests; making our Clinical Team quite diverse and well-equipped to suit the various mental health needs of our students. Some of these degrees and licenses include Mental Health Counseling, Social Work, Marriage and Family Therapy, School Counseling, and Art Therapy. Our clinicians utilize a variety of interventions and treatment approaches, all aiming at providing students at Woodward Academy the individualized care needed during their placement with us. The Clinical Team meets weekly for clinical group and peer supervision and consultation, and they actively involve themselves in the milieu to ensure further collaborative treatment. Within the Clinical Team, we have a Trauma Specialist, Sex Offender Specialist, Mindfulness Specialist, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Specialist, and Neurofeedback-trained specialists. Our Clinical Team continues to grow and change, and we are always looking forward to what’s next!
