Community Based counseling services are provided to qualified youth and their families by licensed clinical staff.

These services are designed to alleviate symptoms associated with mental and behavioral health disorders while supporting improved daily functioning.

Therapeutic interventions focus on increasing understanding of the identified disorder, enhancing coping strategies to manage symptoms effectively, and reducing the disorder’s impact on the individual and family.

Services and strategies utilized are evidence based, strength focused, and recovery oriented, with an emphasis on preventing out-of-home placements and reducing further involvement with the justice system. Licensed counselors deliver trauma-informed and trauma specific interventions that support cognitive processing, reduce emotional distress, and build essential life and emotional regulation skills.

Services address the family system as a whole, recognizing that a youth’s symptoms often reflect broader systemic challenges within the family unit.

Family therapy is offered to address complex systemic issues, including those related to justice involvement, substance use, blended or separated families, acculturation and cultural factors, and socioeconomic stressors.

Interventions aim to strengthen family functioning, improve communication, and promote overall stability within the home and community.

Residential therapeutic services are provided to all youth court ordered into the Challenge Academy, as well as their families.

Placement in residential care may be considered when additional structure, support, and therapeutic interventions are necessary to meet probation requirements or to appropriately treat behavioral health, mental health, and substance use concerns.

Therapeutic services within the Challenge Academy emphasize development across several key domains, including education, cognitive and decision making skills, social and independent living skills, drug education, and family cohesion, bonding, and support.

Residential services are designed to address emotional and behavioral health issues that have impaired the youth’s social functioning and overall wellbeing.

Therapeutic interventions focus on strengthening critical thinking, reshaping maladaptive cognitions, enhancing understanding of mental health symptoms, and developing coping strategies, self regulation skills, and prosocial behaviors.

Support is also directed toward improving family functioning through enhanced parental management skills, communication, and relational bonding.

All counseling services adhere to person centered, evidence-based interventions that promote recovery and resiliency.

Practices are grounded in the trauma informed care paradigm to ensure that services are delivered in a safe, empowering, and supportive setting for both youth and their families.

Comprehensive mental health assessments are conducted by licensed and qualified clinical staff to gather the essential information and insights needed to support treatment planning and the rehabilitative process.

These behavioral health assessments include a clinical interview and the administration of valid and reliable psychometric instruments to assist in forming diagnostic impressions and treatment recommendations.

Assessments are holistic in nature, evaluating multiple domains of functioning while identifying risk factors, needs, and strengths.

Behavioral Health Assessments are completed on youth to help identify mental or behavioral health concerns requiring treatment intervention and to determine appropriateness for placement when needed.

Mental Status Examinations are a semi-structured assessments completed with a youth in a secure setting such as detention or the Challenge Academy.

These evaluations are conducted by qualified mental health professionals to assess a youth’s behavioral, cognitive, and emotional functioning. Mental Status Exams are a critical tool for ensuring the safety and security of youth.

They help determine the risk of harm to self or others and support the development of provisional diagnostic impressions that guide immediate interventions to alleviate crisis symptoms or emotional distress.

Recommendations are provided to supervising officers to ensure appropriate oversight while the youth is detained or in placement.

Licensed clinical staff are available during nontraditional hours and can respond immediately when a youth presents with high-risk self-harm or suicidal behaviors.

Crisis counseling is provided to support youth experiencing acute distress by offering psychoeducation to normalize the event and their emotional responses.

Counselors offer emotional support, teach coping strategies to help the youth deescalate the crisis, and assist in identifying ongoing resources and supports to maintain stability.

The Clinical unit provides Sexual Behavior Therapy to youth adjudicated for a reportable offense and to justice involved youth who have an identified sexual behavior issue.

Sexual behavior therapy is designed for youth that may or may not have a history of trauma and who exhibit inappropriate sexualized behaviors such as inappropriate touching, exposure, developmentally inappropriate masturbation or use of sexualized language.

Services provided are designed to correct thinking errors, manage symptoms, enhance victim empathy, develop impulse control and improve cognitive skills to stop abusive behaviors.

Services provided are tailored to each youth based on assessed needs and may include group services, family, individual sessions as well as parenting and/or chaperon classes.

Services are provided by clinical staff who possess a specialized license in sex offender treatment and have the required training to address sexual behavior concerns and implement evidenced-based interventions.

Aftercare services are offered to Challenge youth and their families as support service designed to aid the youth in the successful reintegration back into the home/community.

Aftercare is designed ensure transitional services and supports are provide to youth released from the Challenge Academy as well as work collaboratively with probation staff and community providers to foster and reinforce positive community norms, reinforcing skills acquired to promote prosocial/positive community engagements.

Case management services are provided to youth and their families while the youth is placed in the Challenge Academy.

These services support family preservation and address barriers that may impact a youth’s successful reentry into the community.

Case management includes assessment, planning, care coordination, and advocacy to meet the needs of youth and families during placement and to prepare for a safe and successful transition upon discharge.

Case managers help youth and families increase natural supports and access medical, psychiatric, social, educational, and vocational resources that promote rehabilitation and independence.

Services also include social skills, independent living skills, and educational or vocational assistance to support long term stability.

These services are client centered, strength based, and guided by family choice, voice, and preferences. Case managers work to strengthen the family’s connection to the community and build the resources necessary to meet the youth’s individualized needs.

Psychiatric services are provided to eligible justice involved youth in both the pre and post adjudication facilities of the Department.

Psychiatric evaluations are provided to determine the need for medication to treat an identified mental health disorder as well as medication follow up and crisis assessments.

Psychiatric services are provided by board certified psychiatrists through contracted services with the Texas Tech Psychiatric Fellowship Program.

Group services are offered in both community and residential settings. Parenting groups for adults are delivered using a strength-based approach to enhance communication, family relationships, and effective behavior management within the home.

Substance use groups teach youth the skills needed to support recovery and maintain a substance free lifestyle.

Self Regulation Skills groups help youth identify, express, and manage emotions effectively while strengthening executive functioning, an essential area of development during adolescence.

Social Skills groups focus on improving communication, social interactions, and the development of healthy relationships. Youth build skills related to awareness, empathy, civic engagement, and community connectedness.

Career Development groups aim to increase vocational interest and teach job readiness skills to support successful employment.

Independent Living Skills groups teach budgeting, household maintenance, nutrition, meal preparation, and other daily living skills that promote self-reliance and confidence.

A Food Handlers Course is available to justice involved youth and families. This course meets Texas Department of Health Services certification requirements, and participants who complete all instructional and testing components earn a food handler’s certificate. The course covers safe food preparation, storage, and service practices.