At Copper Hills Youth Center, we are aware and appreciative of the sacrifices our military families make to protect and defend our country.

Being separated from a parent who has been deployed can create emotional and behavioral problems for adolescents and teens — sometimes best treated in a residential setting. Our staff has been specially trained in the area of trauma and is uniquely suited to treat and support the issues faced by youth from military families.

• Severe Trauma
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Exploitation
• Psychotic symptoms
• Severe mood swings
• Oppositional or defiant responses to peers and/or parents
• Explosiveness or uncontrolled anger
• Substance abuse or dependency (as a secondary)
• Self-harming
• Suicidal ideations, threats or attempts
• Impulsive behaviors
• Runaway behaviors
• Self-destructive behaviors
• Destruction of property
• Lying, covert behavior and stealing

• Weekly individual, family and group therapy
• Trauma-informed therapy
• Individualized treatment plans
• Monthly team treatment meetings to review progress
• Medication management
• Dual-diagnosis substance abuse treatment
• Fully Accredited Private School (accredited through Cognia)
• 24 Hour Nursing
• Recreation Therapy
• Community Outings (including service outings)

SPARCS is a manualized, skill-based program created for adolescents who have experienced trauma and complex stress and can be delivered in 16-week and 32-week “blocks.”

SPARCS uses Dialectical Behavioral Treatment (DBT), Trauma Adaptive Recovery Group Education and Therapy (TARGET) and School-based Trauma/Grief Group Psychotherapy. Therapists work with adolescents to practice the “Four C’s”:

• Cultivate awareness
• Cope more effectively
• Connect with others
• Create meaning and purpose

Copper Hills Youth Center uses SPARCS as its primary treatment platform across all offered programs. Residents move through the curriculum with their assigned group therapist. Additionally, SPARCS is used in staff-led and resident-led groups. It is a core component of daily life at Copper Hills Youth Center and a foundation of recovery.

Trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) is an evidence-based treatment approach shown to help adolescents overcome trauma-related difficulties, including child maltreatment. TF-CBT consists of three phases of treatment: safety and stabilization, formal gradual exposure and consolidation/integration.

TF-CBT includes these components:

• Psychoeducation, which teaches the victim about the normal reactions to traumatic experiences. This can help them reduce feelings of guilt or culpability for what happened.
• Coping skills, including relaxation exercises like deep breathing, mindfulness, acceptance, identifying and redirecting thoughts and other methods.
• Gradual exposure, which involves gradually introducing the patient to memories of their traumatic experience, with the goal of reconditioning their response to triggers and easing emotional distress.
• Cognitive processing, which can include developing skills to re-contextualize unhelpful feelings and thoughts and regulate emotions.
• Caregiver involvement, which may include rebuilding trusting adult relationships for the child and training the caregiver in how to best be a resource for the child.

The treatment is particularly sensitive to the unique problems of youth with post-traumatic stress and mood disorders resulting from sexual/physical/verbal abuse, violence and grief.

Cognitive behavioral techniques are used to help modify distorted or unhelpful thinking and negative reactions and behaviors. Learning to challenge invasive thoughts of guilt and fear can help the student to reorganize their thinking in a healthier and happier way.

The family therapy aspect of trauma-focused CBT attends to the problems family members may have in dealing with the trauma suffered by the youth, including the use of various stress management, communication and parenting skills.

EMDR therapy is a mental health treatment procedure. EMDR’s goal is to help you heal from trauma or other distressing life experiences.

EMDR focuses on changing the emotions, thoughts or behaviors that result from a distressing experience (trauma). This allows your brain to resume a natural healing process. EMDR is effective for treating youth with symptoms accompanying posttraumatic stress (PTSD), attachment issues and self-regulation.

It has also been effective in treating symptoms related to guilt, anger, depression and anxiety, and can be used to boost emotional resources such as confidence and self-esteem.

Copper Hills Youth Center continues to expand our trauma-informed model by focusing treatment on the core issues of attachment using DDP.

We recognize the complexity of treating symptoms caused by insecure attachments, and often a simple behavioral approach does not produce lasting changes. This model addresses the loss of empathy and engagement, which often happens with high-needs youth — called “blocked care.”

The model is a powerful intervention for youth, staff and families to repair relationship failures and restore compassion and empathy by introducing relational strategies to guide staff and parents in interactions with our youth.

Copper Hills Youth Center is pleased to offer its Patriot Support Program serving the Children and Adolescents of members of the U.S. military. The program offers specialized behavioral health and substance use treatment specifically designed for the needs and challenges of military dependents (adolescents ages 12 to 17). Using a trauma informed approach, the program focuses on the challenges faced by the children of military personnel, building upon the resiliency skills used to overcome challenges in their personal lives. For more information about Patriot Support Programs, please visit www.PatriotSupportPrograms.com.