When KidsPeace initially became a TRICARE-certified provider nearly 10 years ago, our focus was ensuring we offer excellence in the treatment and care we provided to military youth and their families. At the time we secured approval for two of our therapeutic residences to be available for TRICARE-funded youth, one for females, and the other for males.
As noted in previous editions of Healing Magazine, our programs have provided TRICARE-funded youth the opportunity to find Hope, Help and Healing and start to build a foundation for a successful life:
“In the safe therapeutic environment, (the TRICARE client) worked with her clinician to develop her personal trauma narrative, which allowed her to finally connect with her past, and all the feelings that she had been holding down for so long … Simultaneously, her clinician worked with her grandparents to help them understand her past, and how those experiences led to the current behaviors. In the final sharing, the client shared her story from beginning to end with her grandparents, who listened, validated, and supported her. The family confirmed that this was the first time that there was open and honest discussion of her past experiences, and all were grateful for the opportunity for deeper understanding and connection.”
“… Originally, this client would become argumentative and would become impatient, stating that he did not understand why therapy was taking so long to help him or why I, as a therapist, had not “fixed him” yet. As I became gentler in my challenging of this client in sessions and I ultimately became more of a support for him in his eyes, he seemed to become more patient with the therapeutic process… He was eventually able to communicate his needs appropriately to the treatment team and to his family, and was able to make progress – for which he was positively praised, gaining the attention he had been hoping for all along. “
“…There were still challenges, of course; longstanding struggles, particularly those related to behavioral/mental health, are not resolved overnight. However, once the youth and her family were able to recognize the possibility of change, success, and hope, things did progress in a more positive direction. Ultimately, she was discharged back home, to her family, with less restrictive aftercare services in place…”
Although proud of the treatment work accomplished by the youth in our program, we knew there were many TRICARE-funded youth requiring other treatment needs – which prompted KidsPeace to pursue TRICARE certification for all our Residential Treatment Programs at the Orchard Hills Campus in Orefield, Pennsylvania. The expanded certification was granted in late summer of 2020.
Expansion of TRICARE certification allows us to treat males as young as seven and females at age ten. For those TRICARE youth requiring short-term stabilization in a psychiatric setting, the TRICARE-certified KidsPeace Hospital is located on the same campus housing our residential programs, providing fidelity with continuity of treatment.
Our TRICARE-certified residential programs include:
TRICARE Intensive Residential Treatment
Staff-to-Client Ratio 1:3
(males/females age 13-18)
Designed to treat and meet the needs of youth who require, or can benefit from a program offering clinical, recreational, and educational services and supervision, the treatment program incorporates evidence-based, culturally sensitive therapeutic interventions, milieu supervision, master level individual and family therapies, behavior analysis, case management, education, recreation, nursing, psychiatry, spirituality, and psychology into interagency team approaches and treatment plans for the youth in residential care with an emphasis on the youth and families driving the treatment.
Specialized Behavioral Disorder Treatment
Staff-to-Client Ratio 1:3, 1:4
(males age 12-18)
This reality and cognitive behavior-based treatment helps youth accept responsibility for inappropriate behaviors, identify maladaptive behavioral patterns, increase social sensitivity, develop empathy for victims and learn pro-social skills and long term accountability and self-discipline.
A.S.P.I.R.E (Adolescent Sexual Preoccupation, Intervention, Responsibility, and Education)
Staff-to-Client Ratio 1:3, 1:4
(males age 13-18)
The PRTF-certified ASPIRE residential treatment program provides structured, staff-secure, intensive residential services for male adolescents who are exhibiting high-risk sexualized preoccupations and behaviors. The team utilizes a trauma-informed approach to help youth understand and accept responsibility for inappropriate behaviors; identify behavior patterns; increase social sensitivity; increase emotional regulation/expression; increase impulse control; gain understanding of healthy sexual development and relationships; develop empathy for abuse victims; and learn long-term accountability and self-discipline.
KidHope Intensive Residential Treatment
Staff-to-Client Ratio 1:3, 1:4
(males age 12-18)
The PRTF-certified KidsHope Treatment Program provides structured, staff-secure, intensive residential treatment services for male adolescents with IQ scores between 50 and 70. Limitations in adaptive functioning that prevent a child from being successful in less restrictive settings are identified and targeted. Interventions address improving a youth’s impulse control, social judgement, emotional regulation/expression and interpersonal skills to enable and support the child to transition to a less restrictive setting.
KidsPeace Trauma, Resiliency, Empowerment, and Elevation (T.R.E.E.) Residential Program
Staff-to-Client Ratio 1:3
(males ages 7-18, females ages 10-18)
The PRTF-certified T.R.E.E. Program uses a holistic approach that combines the principles of community interaction, trauma-informed evidence-based interventions, and life-skill development. T.R.E.E. is designed to address emotional and/or behavioral acuity in child/adolescent females and males whom have experienced complex trauma, including Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (C-SEC), which cannot be treated in a less restrictive environment. Goals of this program include teaching healthy relationships /sexual development, emotional regulation, cognitive coping, self-empowerment, family/support building, and community reintegration.
Family-focused care and treatment
Family and youth engagement is vital to achieving positive outcomes in residential treatment. KidsPeace understands when one member of the family is in crisis, it affects all members of the family. The culture, ideas, beliefs, religion, and values of family members play a critical role in the success of the youth and are utilized to support and guide the treatment. Family support is offered via on-campus visits, family therapy (therapist of choice on or off campus near family), and Family and Community Time.
For additional information regarding our TRICARE-certified programming or to make a referral, our Admissions team can be reached at 1.800.854.3123 or email at admissions@kidspeace.org.
