Mental Health Services—Male Adolescents
Improving mental health with behavioral "tools"
Residential Treatment services for students between the ages of 12 and 18 who are experiencing emotional and behavioral disorders are located in Cottage One, Cottage Four and Cottage Five. The treatment experience is designed to return the student to their home and community with improved mental health and with a set of behavioral 'tools' to implement throughout their lifetime.
Mental health services: Cognitive-behavioral approach
Cottage One accepts female youth ages 12 to 18 years of age. The treatment utilizes a cognitive-behavioral approach which is designed to overcome deficits in social thinking and social problem-solving experienced by adolescents with behavior and mental health problems. The treatment team strives to create an environment that is safe, comfortable, and reflective of a home where teenage girls reside. We provide an emotional environment that facilitates healing through support, teaching, and empowering. The expectations and rules are designed to replicate healthy functioning in a home environment. Expectations amongst the students may vary based on age, development, and current functioning. Our goal is to provide an individual treatment plan and expectations that are achievable by each student and their family.
Mental health services: Narrative therapy
The Cottage Four treatment team uses a Narrative Therapy approach, a multifaceted therapeutic approach which blends behavior modification, individual counseling, peer interaction, and family therapy. This method looks at the personal challenge (the problem), noting that -- "The problem is the problem. The person is not the problem." -- within the home-style environment of the cottage.
The team works with the student to identify his strengths and develop an individual treatment plan for overcoming his particular challenges. Counselors enlist the student's participation in creating and improving healthy coping skills and healthy decision-making. The family and the therapist explore current relationship patterns and discover how these patterns have either contributed to or addressed the problem.
Students are referred to the St. Cloud Children's Home by hospitals, private clinicians, school districts, community corrections programs, county social services, and self-referral by individual families.
Mental health services: Relational Model
Cottage Five is a mixed gender long-term open residential treatment unit providing services for adolescent males and females aged 12-18. The program philosophy is based on the relational model. Relational theory proposes one of the sources of psychological problems comes from not being able to create positive healthy connections with other people. Through the relational model, the Cottage 5 program promotes healing by teaching adolescents how to develop healthy relationships and independent skills. We provide a caring environment that promotes positive ways to engage in relationships. The program is designed to help adolescents recognize and build on their strengths and increase positive behavioral choices. Residents will maintain their connections with family, school, and community while living in a nurturing, safe environment. Our program aims not only to teach and support adolescents in the development of healthy coping skills, but also to encourage the systems around the adolescent to grow and change. The program is structured to encourage expression of feelings, effective communication, and community responsibility through modeling and engaging in healthy relationships.
Students are referred to the St. Cloud Children's Home by hospitals, private clinicians, school districts, community corrections programs, county social services, and self-referral by individual families.
Referral information and forms
St. Cloud Children's Home
1726 7th Ave S
St. Cloud, MN 56301
Ph: 320.650.1500
Ph: 800.830.8254, ext 1500
Fx: 320.650.1508