WASATCH MENTAL HEALTH
YOUTH DAY TREATMENT
ASCEND PROGRAM

For the Detailed Ascend description click here

General Description of Service or Program:

The Wasatch Mental Health Youth Day Treatment Ascend program serves those youth in seventh to twelfth grades of school in Utah County that have a high level of emotional needs. The purpose is to provide integrated and individualized care in a community-based setting. It is our intention to recognize each youth’s and family’s unique strengths and needs, collaborate with families, schools and community agencies to create integrated support networks to promote the youth's optimal level of development, mental health and permanency in the most normative home and school environment possible.

The Youth Day Treatment program operates five days a week from 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. This schedule includes an extended school year that encompasses the summer months. During the regular school year, every attempt will be made to coordinate with the public school schedule. School holidays are recognized with no educational or therapeutic services on these days; however, Ascend staff will stay abreast of each youth's and family's needs and will assist them in determining ahead of time what will help make anticipated breaks in school routine successful. As deemed necessary, Ascend staff will be available for consultation, check-ins and individual/family therapy sessions during extended school breaks.


Description of Population Served:

The Ascend Youth Day Treatment program serves those youth for whom psychological traumas, biological vulnerabilities, family dynamics and other environmental stressors cause profound social, emotional and behavioral disturbances that severely hinder the youth's ability to function successfully in their family, school and/or community setting.

The youth come from a variety of family situations but most will be in the custody of a Utah State agency (YCS, DCFS, DHS). Youth will need to be identified as having mental health issues that are preventing them from achieving their developmental milestones and from benefiting from the school learning experience. These youth are not exhibiting severe enough symptoms to require residential treatment, but likely will in time if community-based mental health services were not made available. This program will also serve youth who are returning to the community from a residential treatment program or hospital and require a supportive therapeutic transition back to a less restrictive level of care.


Family Involvement:

Parents/caretakers are key members of their child’s treatment team, and their contributions to the treatment process are critical to their youth's success in the program. As deemed appropriate based on the individual needs of the youth and family, participation in family therapy, parent seminars, parent/youth groups, and spending designated time in the classroom are required elements of treatment. A primary goal of family inclusion is helping parents/caretakers understand their youth's emotional disturbance, therefore allowing them to respond to the youth's underlying needs rather than reacting to overt behaviors. Objectives may center around increasing nurturance and play between the parent/caretaker and youth, enhancing structure, routine, predictability, safety and healthy boundaries in the home, ensuring that basic physical and emotional needs are being met, enhancing parental proficiency with the use of non-physical discipline, increasing parental knowledge and understanding of youth development, improving communication and conflict resolution skills and increasing coping skills in the everyday demands and challenges of parenting a needy youth.

The parents/caretakers are required to complete an assessment form each day on their child. This will include an assessment on their goals and evaluation on their progress in specific areas.


Treatment Modalities:

The day treatment program includes an accredited school 7th through 12th grade with an intensive therapeutic program of individual, family and group sessions. Dialectic Behavioral group therapy, process group therapy, daily goals group, adolescent skill development group, and an adolescent male issues group are the interventions used in this program.


Referral and Intake:

A crucial part of ensuring accurate responses to the youth's needs is making certain that the youth's needs can be appropriately met in the Youth Day Treatment program. Referrals are generated from a variety of sources including parents, community providers, and public school staff. Our mental health services are voluntary and parental or legal guardian consent is required prior to formally initiating a referral. Referrals can be made by contacting Ryan Budge, LCSW at 801-821-5244 or wasatch.rbudge@state.ut.us.