Family Victories from Youth Villages, Georgia

Meet a member of the Youth Villages family

Construction, renovations at Inner Harbour Campus

Kennedy Center hosts Youth Villages drummers

Family work

After years of trying, Donald W. is getting the family

back together

Spring 2010

A MessageFrom Our Directors

Youth Villages —Inner Harbour Campus 4685 Dorsett Shoals Road Douglasville, GA 30135 phone: 770-852-6300 toll-free: 800-255-8657 fax: 770-942-2391 www. youthvillages.org/IHcampus.aspx

Atlanta (In-Home Services) 1777 Northeast Expressway NE Suite 150 Atlanta, GA 30329 phone: 404-320-2920 fax: 404-320-2921

Youth VillagesGeorgia Offices

Unique opportunities to help

In Georgia, Youth Villages offers both in-home services in the Atlanta area and resi-dential services at our Inner Harbour Campus in Douglasville.

This gives us a unique opportunity to effectively serve more young people and their families in the Atlanta area.

And we’re making enhancements to meet our growing needs. In this newsletter, Youth Villages’ first for our community, we highlight a family who benefited from our services. We also highlight recent projects at Inner Harbour to enhance services and improve the already beautiful campus.

Inner Harbour specializes in helping children and adolescents with significant psychiat-ric illness and impairment in behavioral, cognitive, emotional, familial and social function-ing.

Inner Harbour’s residential campus provides much more than conventional methods by immersing young people in advanced programs that stimulate learning through a series of activities that progressively challenge them.

In addition, an Atlanta office offers Intercept intensive in-home services to serve a broad population of youth, including those who are at high risk of removal from their families. The program specializes in diverting youth from out-of-home placements by helping their families safely maintain children in their home environment.

Intercept also focuses on reunification of youth who are in a residential or foster home setting. In many instances, we are able to return children to their homes, living with parents or relatives.

Both services place a high priority on meeting the needs of children and doing what-ever it takes to get them living successfully with their families. Many of the children par-ticipating in the in-home program are part of families with difficulties, whether it is mental illness, domestic violence, substance abuse or legal trouble.

Strengthening those families means our children have better lives and our communi-ties become stronger, too.

We thank you for your support.

Emily Acker and Kate Cantrell

Kate CantrellDirector of Programs, Georgia and Alabama1777 Northeast Expressway NE, Suite 150 Atlanta, GA 30329404-320-2957kate.cantrell@youthvillages.org

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Emily AckerDirector, Inner Harbour4685 Dorsett Shoals Road Douglasville, GA 30135 770-852-6298emily.acker@youthvillages.org

Youth Villages Georgia Leadership Council

Kenneth A. Campbell *Robert F. Clayton Lewis Holland Sr. *John Hutchins *Gail A. Mattox Jennifer S. Queen*Robert L. Rearden IIISondra Rhoades-Johnson Matthew F. Tarkenton *Kieu-Anh Thi TranDavid Tyler *

*member of Youth Villages’ National Board of Directors

To Volunteer:volunteer@youthvillages.org

To Donate:give@youthvillages.org

To Work:careers@youthvillages.org

Get Involved

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Program SuccessAs a national leader in the field of behavioral health,

Youth Villages has measured outcomes of children

and families participating in its programs since 1994.

Intercept Program

Youth Villages provides the Intercept intensive in-home program in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hamp-shire, Tennessee and Virginia.

Intercept provides counseling to troubled children and families in their own homes at times convenient for the families.

Counselors with small case loads — four to five families — focus on helping the child and family at home, in school and in the com-munity. The program serves children of any age (infant to 18) who have serious emotional and behavioral problems.

Intercept is based on the principles and practices of research-based mental health treatment.

Inner HarbourNestled in a natural setting among lakes and woods just west of

Atlanta, Inner Harbour has been successfully helping children and adolescents since 1962 and joined the Youth Villages family in 2009.

The Youth Villages-Inner Harbour Campus offers a variety of therapeutic and educational services for children and families, as well as development and training opportunities for our clinical and

Continued on page 5

Mary NormanDirector of Development, Georgia

Mary Norman recently joined Youth Villages Georgia in the development office. Norman has more than 25 years’ experience in organizational leadership, fund-raising, marketing and communications, and joins Youth Villages from the Jane Goodall Institute, where she was senior vice president of development and communications.

Why did you decide to work at Youth

Villages?— First and foremost, the mission; giving

children who have had a rough start the oppor-tunity for a better life.

What is appealing about doing this work in

Georgia?— Expanding Youth Villages into Georgia gives

us the ability to reach children who previously may have run out of options.

What do you like best about your job?

— The people — they are passionate and

enthusiastic about Youth Villages’ mission. They

believe, as I do, that the organization is on the

cusp of making a profound and measurable differ-

ence in Georgia.

What’s something most people don’t know

about you?

— I was a former morning show disc jockey

and television anchor in Memphis.

Meet the YV Family

You can help. For information on giving or volun-

teering opportunities, e-mail Norman at

mary.norman@youthvillages.org or call

her in Atlanta at 404-320-2920.

facebook.com/youthvillages

twitter.com/youthvillages

The above graph reflects discharge data from October 2008 through January 2010 of Youth Villages Georgia Intercept inten-sive in-home services.

Donald W.’s road to family wasn’t easy. He wanted his children at home with him, but in the beginning, it wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t the drugs, the unstable home or the unemployment. It wasn’t his lack of direction or support.

His daughters were in foster care after being aban-doned by their mother. Once Donald found this out, he wanted his children to be with him. He wanted the system to work quickly, but he first had to grow and learn. He first had to make a home for Khadijah and Antoinette. He first had to work on himself.

Khadijah had difficulty with structure and threw temper tantrums. In fact, she was removed from a few foster homes because of her physical aggression. She needed the help of a loving family.

“This is what I’m here for,” Donald said. “This is my purpose; God got me here to be here for my kids.”

Seven years ago, Donald found out his daughters were in state custody, and he contacted their case worker.

After years of frustration with various agencies and counselors, he was told in 2009 that Youth Villages was assigned to the case. Donald wasn’t impressed.

“I remember the first day I met Donald,” Youth Villages counselor Angela White said. “He was very resistant, and he asked, ‘I have had so many people in my home who said they’d help me get my children back, and they didn’t. What makes you any different?’”

At first, Angela said she was at a loss for words.

“Angela told me, ‘I’m here for you and here to get your kids back,’” Donald said. “But first, I had to take care of myself.”

Donald cleaned up and then worked on anger manage-ment and parenting skills. Each step along the way was a lesson in patience and frustration, as he was continually denied custody.

But he continued to work, and after about nine months, Khadijah and Antoinette came home to live with their father.

“Being a father has created this person I never thought was in me,” Donald said. “I’m grateful to be in this posi-tion.”

In that position, Donald and his family are growing. The sisters are learning to share and Khadijah is doing better at school.

“My biggest difficulty was adjusting at school,” Khadijah said. “But now, I have friends and teachers who think I

Family finds you

The annual Empty Bowls Project was recently held in Car-rollton. Young people created bowls that were auctioned off with soup, the money going to benefit the local soup kitchen. Inner Harbour students created a great number of the pottery bowls for the event, and two groups attended the actual event.

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One man’s struggle to create a home

Donald W. with daughters Khadijah, left, and Antoinette

Empty bowls project

Continued on page 5

The Inner Harbour School nurtures intellectual development, academic achievement, and emotional healing through experiential processes designed to focus on all aspects of caring. Our aspiration is to facilitate an inte-grated curriculum that will guide students in caring for self, intimate others, global others, plants, animals, and the human capacity to create. We believe that by focusing on these aspects of caring, we are truly preparing students for productive lives, present and future.

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am nice.”Khadijah sets daily goals and attends

the Boys & Girls Club after school. She never gave up hope that she’d be back

with her family.In less than a year, this fragmented

family of children in foster care and a father with few life skills and unstable housing have joined. All are working to-gether to make a home, and while there are growing pains, there is also love.

“Angela did what she said she was going to do,” Donald said. “Youth Vil-lages opened my eyes – I never thought I’d be parenting my children alone, but I feel good about it.

“The kids are home.”

Learning to sharefrom page 4

Inner Harbour drum circle plays Kennedy Center

educational professionals. Services are provided to young people up to age 21.

As an established community of well-trained and caring professionals, our staff is dedicated to helping youth and families confront and respond to life’s challenges in a safe, unique, natural and cost-effective environ-ment.

The residential campus immerses young people in a series of activi-ties that progressively challenge their social, emotional, mental and physical resources in an ideal setting to help build upon their strengths and over-come life’s most difficult challenges.

Inner Harbour’s range of programs and services is specifically tailored for youth’s needs, and services are provided regardless of race, gender, creed, national origin or disability.

Inner Harbour is the only residential campus in Georgia offering edu-cational services accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools for more than 25 years, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations and the As-sociation of Experiential Education.

Program Successfrom page 3

The Youth Villages-Inner Harbour African drum circle has performed many times around Atlanta, even for President Jimmy Carter. The troupe recently played at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

The drum ensemble consists of 10 students and four teachers from Inner Harbour who play djembe and study the traditional music of West Africa.

They have played at the Lincoln Center in New York in addition to their Washington, D.C., performances. The Atlanta Women’s Club underwrote the performance outfits, and contributions from the staff made the trip possible. Student drummers are Denaireo S., Solomon H., Warren M., Kwame B., Kevin B., Taylor E., Michael C., Damian B., Terrion S., Johnathan Y. and Sam F. Staff drummers are Tom Harris, John Warrington and Kelvin Coleman.

Renovations at Inner Harbour to better serve children

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Renovations at Inner Harbour

Five major remodeling projects and the building of a new maintenance and storage building are underway at Inner Harbour.

The first phase of the remodeling of the lower level of the Hewell building is complete, providing much needed work space for 21 staff, two dedicated admis-sion rooms and a training/conference room.

Remodeling of the upper and lower levels of the forty-bed Lakeview build-ing has also begun to include a nurse’s station, conference room and staff work area. It will also become a multiple pur-pose room for use by our youth with the past functions being relocated in new spaces.

Recently, construction began on an addition to the 20-bed Wicasa children’s building. This space will be utilized as a staff meeting area, conference room and screened in activity area for rainy day functions for our youth.

The site for the new maintenance building has been cleared and the underground infrastructure is being installed.

Is Inner Harbour licensed in Georgia? Yes. Inner Harbour is licensed by the state of Georgia as a

psychiatric residential teatment facility for children and youth ages 5-21.

How much does it cost to place a child at Inner Har-bour?

Inner Harbour offers our quality-driven, cost-effective services at an all-inclusive daily rate. Prices vary based on programs.

What payment options are available at Inner Har-bour?

Our services are covered by most major medical insur-ances, including TRICARE; and in rare cases, families cover the costs.

May I tour the facility? Yes. Inner Harbour’s direct-care staff provides the major-

ity of tours for parents, so please pre-arrange a tour with the Intake and Review Department.

How can I learn more about Inner Harbour? You can get more information about Inner Harbour by

calling 770-852-6333. Inner Harbour’s Intake and Review

representatives will answer any questions you have about our services.

Which insurance plans do you accept? Inner Harbour accepts almost all insurance policies that

have a benefit for residential treatment. Most of our insur-ance-funded admissions are covered by Magellan, TRICARE, United Behavioral Health, Cigna Behavioral Health and Value Options. Inner Harbour is a Medicaid-approved facility.

About 33 percent of young people in the Intercept intensive in-home services program through January 2010 were between 15-18.

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New AmeriCorps members recently began their term of ser-vice at Inner Harbour. Jake, Nicole, Chris and Brad are from Michigan, Nevada, Georgia and Ohio. With the addition of these four, our AmeriCorps team now comprises 16 dynamic and energetic cultivators of experiential learning and fun. Pictured above are three of the four new members and Ms. Lindsey, taken during their scavenger hunt to acclimate them to the layout of the campus.

Frequently asked questions about Inner Harbour

$20,000+Mary Allen Lindsey Branan Foundation

$10,000+ Aurora National Life Assurance Co.

$5,000+Stacy Ann Boe Memorial FoundationMr. Kenneth A. CampbellKiwanis Foundation of Atlanta Inc.Whitehead Foundation

$1,000+ Dan Merrie Boone FoundationMr. Rick MildnerMr. Walter RoweMs. Celia Scarbrough Matthew and Jeannie TarkentonWachovia Bank

$500+ Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Hunter Ms. Linda L. RamseyMr. and Mrs. Robert ReiserRotary Foundation Douglas CountySeason’s-4

Tull Charitable Foundation

$100+ Atlanta BalletMs. Stacy AllenMs. Dorothy Anderson Mr. Jimmy James Mr. Stanley S. Jones Jr.North Georgia Dollmakers ClubThe Northern Trust CompanyMr. Steven Riggs Mr. and Mrs. Donald WilliamsQuebec Government

ContributionsDonations Thanks to our many supporters

The following donors made gifts of at least $100 to Youth Villages between Oct. 1, 2009, and Dec. 31, 2009. The board of directors and staff of Youth Villages grate-fully acknowledge these thoughtful contributions. If you made a contribution during this time but it is not listed, please call Mary Nor-man at 404-320-2920.

Founded in Memphis, Tenn., in 1986, Youth Villages has built a national reputation for offering the most effective pro-grams and services to help emotionally troubled children and their families. The private nonprofit organization provides a fully integrated continuum of services, including residential treatment, in-home services, foster care and adoption, mentoring and a transitional living program for young adults aging out of foster care.

Please write to Youth Villages’ Atlanta office if you wish to have your name removed from our mailing list.

New Heights is published by Youth Villages

Managing editors: Emily Acker, Kate Cantrell

Associate editor: Chris Pennington

YOUTH VILLAGES1777 Northeast Expressway NESuite 150Atlanta, GA 30329(Address Service Requested)

Non-Profit OrganizationU.S. Postage PaidPermit No. 1324

A private nonprofit organization, Youth Villages serves more than15,000 children and their families from offices in the following cities:Alabama: Anniston, Birmingham, Dothan, Huntsville, MobileArkansas: Jonesboro, Little RockFlorida: Lakeland, Miami, TampaGeorgia: Atlanta, DouglasvilleMassachusetts: Lawrence, Woburn, WorcesterMississippi: Biloxi, Hattiesburg, Hernando, Jackson, TupeloNew Hampshire: ManchesterNorth Carolina: Asheville, Charlotte, Concord, Fayetteville, Greensboro, Greenville, Hickory, Pinehurst, Raleigh-Durham, WilmingtonTennessee: Chattanooga, Clarksville, Columbia, Cookeville, Dickson, Dyersburg, Jackson, Johnson City,Knoxville, Linden, Memphis, Morristown, Nashville, ParisTexas: DallasVirginia: Arlington, RoanokeWashington, D.C.

Attn: Georgia office mailing1777 Northeast Expressway NE, Suite 150

Atlanta, GA 30329