	Wilderness and Adventure-Based Therapeutic Outdoor Services

Introduction

Administration and Management

Service Delivery Administration Standards

Service Standards

PA-WT 5: Family Connections

The youth, family, and agency work together to determine an optimal level of family connection including involvement in treatment activities.

Interpretation: Care is taken to ask the participant about any individuals who are considered to be family members, including those who have a relationship through kinship, affection, law, custom, or other acknowledgement including current or former foster family, adoptive family, or extended family members.

PA-WT 5.01

The agency encourages active family participation, and arranges for family counseling, unless such involvement is contraindicated by the service plan.

Research Note: Literature suggests that family counseling increases the likelihood of treatment success among youth receiving PA-WT services. The understanding is that without involving the parents, the benefits of treatment will fade when the youth is returned to the home environment. Whenever possible and appropriate, PA-WT programs should work with families to ensure that family members recognize their role in achieving positive treatment outcomes.

PA-WT 5.02

The agency helps participants:

resolve conflicts in family relationships;
cope with family separation;
identify family strengths to help members meet challenges;
maintain relationships with family members through visits and shared activities;
prepare for return to the family, if appropriate;
participate in family and neighborhood activities; and
connect with ongoing, post-discharge support services.

PA-WT 5.03

The agency sends emergency messages from family members or the responsible placing provider to remote sites and immediately informs sender if this cannot be done promptly.

NA The agency does not operate in remote sites.

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	PURPOSE: Youth who participate in Wilderness and Adventure-based Therapeutic Outdoor Services expand individual capabilities, develop self-confidence and insight, ameliorate symptoms, and improve interpersonal skills and relationships.

RELATED FILES


	SERVICE One or more organization-operated programs or activities that have a common general objective and deploy the organization's material and human resources in a planned and systematic manner. An organization that publicly promotes or identifies itself in writing as offering a service, is licensed to deliver a service, assigns personnel and/or space to a service, or allocates financial resources to a service is considered to offer that service.


	FAMILY Two or more people who consider themselves family and who assume obligations, functions, and responsibilities generally essential to healthy family life. Child care and child socialization, income support, long-term care, and other caregiving are among the functions of family life. The definition of "family" will rest with an individual's indication of who plays a family member role, including current or former foster family, adoptive family, extended family members, fictive kin, or significant others. Organizations that believe family is the central constellation in a child's life, and that family attachments are of primary importance for human development, will strive to work with professional staff to develop a common understanding of "family."


	SERVICE PLAN A written plan of action based on the assessment of consumer needs and strengths that identifies problems, sets goals, and describes a strategy for achieving those goals and engaging in joint problem solving with the consumer. Also known as a "treatment plan".


	PARENTS Parents can include: birth, foster, kinship, and adoptive parents. Please see service standards for more specific information about use of this term.


	PROGRAM A system of services offered by an organization. For example, an organization providing a mental health service may offer several mental health programs to different populations, e.g., a mental health program for adolescent teens. The word "program" can be used interchangeably with the word "service" or to describe specific programs.


	DISCHARGE See CASE CLOSING