Mental-health center for children set to open
Posted on Sunday, August 24, 2008
MONTICELLO — A new residential center will offer mental-health treatment to children in Southeast Arkansas who previously had to move miles away from home to get the care they needed.
Centers for Youth and Families, which provides behavioral health services to children and adolescents statewide, expects to open the center within weeks.
It will be able to accommodate 23 children, and each resident will have a private bedroom. The center will offer individual, group and family therapy, and operate similarly to two others run by Centers for Youth and Families.
The residents, who typically stay three or four months, will be able to continue their studies while at the center.
“These are kids with serious behavioral problems to the point of not being able to function in school or family settings,” said Doug Stadter, president of the nonprofit organization. “They need a very structured environment to learn about their illness and learn more appropriate ways to express behaviors.” Stadter said a state study has shown that many young people in southeast Arkansas who need help were being sent elsewhere.
“The real key to success is the involvement of family in the program. It may be a mom and dad or a single parent or foster parents. Whoever the child will be returning to, we involve those family members and it really makes a difference,” Stadter said.
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