YOUTH & FAMILIES

Youth & Families Programs Available:

Overview: Youth & Children

Family Counseling

Connections: Home-Based Counseling

Therapy Center

Day Treatment - Journey

The Runaway Shelter

Foster Care

Residential Treatment

Safe Place

Transitional Living for Youth

Lake Brook Academy

Overview: Youth & Children

"Home is the place where boys and girls first learn how to limit their wishes, abide by rules, and consider the rights and needs of others." --Sidonie Gruenberg
At Child & Family Tennessee, we know our children are our future. Adolescence is the "last chance" to help ensure a successful transition to adulthood. We have multiple programs that address the unique challenges of youth and their families. We offer counseling, runaway prevention, safe shelter, group homes, foster homes and even adoption for youth in need.
Alcohol, drug abuse, poverty, unemployment, mental illness and domestic violence are common problems for the families of homeless youth.
One in four youth aging out of foster care will be homeless within one year.
Youth in foster care struggle to find a permanent connection to a caring family.
Once youth have run away and are homeless, they are at risk for substance abuse, prostitution and suicide attempts.

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Family Counseling

Family Counseling is a service offered through Child & Family Tennessee's Therapy Center. Our program helps anyone with emotional distress and allows families to access licensed, professional staff that can help with a wide variety of emotional, behavioral and family relationship problems. Specialty services are offered for sexual abuse, child behavior problems and substance abuse treatment. Though we serve families of every income level, we are often the only affordable resource for low income or working poor families with little to no insurance support. Our family counseling helps with family and personal problems in order to promote self-sufficiency. As a result, we see better job performance, better school performance, better family stability and relationships and families which can stay together and succeed.
There is a sliding fee scale for services and we accept TennCare and most insurance. For an appointment, call 865-246-1100. (Please see "Therapy Center" in the listing to the left.)

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Connections: Home-Based Counseling

Connections offers intensive in-home services that help families build connections with formal and informal community helping networks to help and support families when in need. Often, these services make it possible for a child to successfully remain with his or her family, eliminating the need for state care. In cases where children have already been removed from the home, Connections works with the child and his or her parents for a smooth transition back into the home so the child is successfully reunited with his or her family.
Families who safely remain together create children and communities that are emotionally, physically and spiritually stronger. By the time families have completed the Connections program; they use their existing strengths and build a natural supportive network. This leaves families stronger, with the ability to access more resources for themselves.
Services include:
Assessments to identify strengths and needs
Individual family plans
Parenting skills training
Safety planning
Life skill training
Nutrition
Financial guidance and budgeting skills training
Home safety, home repair and cleanliness
Mental health, alcohol and drug assessments
Referrals to community resources
There is a sliding fee scale for services and we accept TennCare and most insurance. For an appointment, call 865-246-1100.

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Therapy Center

"Nobody's family can hang out the sign, 'Nothing the matter here'." --Chinese proverb
The Therapy Center provides a variety of outpatient services that share the common goal of helping adults, adolescents, children and families overcome the difficulties that are impacting their lives and improve their overall level of functioning. In addition to individual and family therapy, the Therapy Center includes specialized services such as PASAAC (Project Against the Sexual Abuse of Appalachian Children), a Non-Offending Parent group for parents of children who have been sexually abused, a Women's Anger Management group and gender-specific Intensive Outpatient Programs for those struggling with addiction, mental health challenges and trauma. All of the clinically-based services at Child & Family Tennessee's Therapy Center operate from a Strength-Based, Trauma-Informed, Recovery and Resiliency Model and address a variety of problems and needs.
Services that we specialize in:
Anger management
Anxiety
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
Bipolar disorder
Depression
Divorce
Eating Disorders
Emotional, sexual or physical abuse
Family issues
Gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender issues
Grief
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Marital conflict
Parenting issues
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Relationship difficulties
School difficulties
Stress-related disorders
Substance abuse
Trauma
There is a sliding fee scale for services and we accept TennCare and most insurance. For an appointment, call 865-246-1100.

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Day Treatment - Journey

Day Treatment, also know as Journey, is a service offered for adolescents through our Therapy Center. (Please see "Therapy Center" in the listing to the left.)
Some of the focuses of the services offered are:
Individualized treatment
Strong family emphasis
Improvement in emtional/behavioral problems
Recovery from substance abuse
Accredited school, academic credit recovery
There is a sliding fee scale for services and we accept TennCare and most insurance. For an appointment, call 865-246-1100.

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The Runaway Shelter

Adolescence is a difficult stage of life for many. Surviving adolescence is challenging. For some, life becomes unbearable and they run from their home and family. Other youth are given no choice but to leave home. By necessity, many youth face sudden and total independence with no support.
Once homeless, youth are at risk for further abuse and victimization, substance abuse, prostitution for survival or drugs and suicide attempts. The Runaway Shelter provides a safety net of runaway prevention, crisis intervention, safe shelter and counseling services for runaway, throwaway and homeless youth.
Services offered:
24-hour hotline counseling - runaway prevention
Drug-free housing
Emergency shelter
Intervention services
Mental health services
Independent living services
Case management
Crisis management
Aftercare referral
Community education
Outreach services
There is no fee for this service. For more information, please call 865-523-2689.

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Foster Care

"Family life is full of major and minor crises - the ups and downs of health, success and failure in career, marriage, and divorce - and all kinds of characters. It is tied to places and events and histories. With all of these felt detains, life etches itself into memory and personality. It's difficult to imagine anything more nourishing to the soul" -- Thomas Moore
Unfortunately, there are many youth in the East Tennessee area who have no family or who are unable for a time to safely live with their families. These youth have histories of various levels of neglect and abuse, resulting in emotional and behavioral problems.
Child & Family Tennessee's Foster Care Services are designed to open positive opportunities and family connections for these youth. Youth who are a part of our Foster Care Services are offered safe and structured living environments while simultaneously helping them to return to safe and stable families as quickly as possible.
For many youth, placement into our Foster Care Services provides the treatment, consistency and structure that they need. Our goal is that every youth in this service exits our program to a safe and permanent family with the support and resources needed to live a safe and productive life and to achieve later self-sufficiency.
Foster Parents Receive:
A generous board and service compensation, geared to the child's need
Flexible training and individual instruction
Two weekends respite care per month as needed
Allowance and clothing allotment for each child
Funds for involvement in community or developmental activities
Prompt 24-hour crisis support from professional staff
Individual and family counseling
Foster Family Peer Support activities, such as focus groups for Foster Families and regular meetings with agency management teams
To find out how you can help these youth in need, please call 865-524-7483.

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Residential Treatment

Adolescence can be a very challenging time for many youth and their families. There are so many changes occurring, and the need to soon be ready for the demands of adulthood looms large. In addition, many youth and their families also face serious emotional and behavioral disturbances. Child & Family Tennessee has been a pioneer in assisting these youth with our residential services since 1978. Children in our Residential Treatment Centers have the opportunity to build on their strengths so they are ready to return to a home setting.
Our professional staff uses evidence-based interventions to help the child build on his or her existing strengths and develop the knowledge and skills needed for success. We work closely with families to ensure they have the tools and resources they need to help the child succeed. Our educational services help students get back on track and coordinate closely with the child's school so that there is a strong team supporting the youth. All of our services are individualized to meet the unique needs of each child and family.
Services offered:
Residential treatment
Accredited school
Mental health services
After school educational enrichment program
Summer job program
Independent living skills
Family therapy & support
Case management
In-home services (after return home)
Community involvement and service
Follow-up
For more information, please call 865-524-7483.

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Safe Place

Safe Place is a coordinated effort of local businesses and community volunteers to provide a 24-hr network of easily accessible "safe places" where youth can go if they need help quickly. To do this, we have placed a system of highly visible and universal signs at local establishments.
Awareness and education of this program includes:
Actively recruiting local businesses to commit as Safe Place sites and training personnel to appropriately connect youth to our services.
Conducting awareness and marketing activities in schools and locations in Knox Co. where at-risk youth congregate. We want youth in trouble to see the Safe Place emblem as a safe and smart place to seek help.
There is no fee for this service. For more information, please call 865-523-2689. Information on the national program can be found here.

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Transitional Living for Youth

In today's world, youth commonly continue living in their family's homes until early adulthood and return from time to time as needed or as hardships are encountered. Unfortunately, some youth do not have this safety net when transitioning into adulthood. For youth aging out of foster care, public support can end at age 18 and family support, if available, can be difficult due to problems such as mental illness, substance abuse, and domestic violence. While programs exist to help the homeless, youth require specialized services, outreach, and supports if they are to make their transition to adulthood successful.
Child & Family Tennessee's Transitional Living Program is specifically designed for the needs of homeless young adults or older youth at risk of becoming homeless. To meet their needs, the following services are made available to every older youth or young adult contacting us for assistance:
Housing - transitional housing in an agency-owned facility or financial assistance and support to locate permanent housing within the community
Intake and assessment
Case management
Education and training
Job readiness and employment assistance
Substance abuse education, treatment and referral for treatment
Mental health screening, education and referral for treatment
Life and interpersonal skill building
Parenting instruction and help with children
Medical needs - education, referral and advocacy
Community service opportunities
Aftercare and follow-up care
Project Now - a program that offers financial literacy and IDA savings accounts to clients will have the opportunity to participate in financial literacy classes, establish a savings account, and develop a written plan for approved assets such as computers, cares, or entering college. Savings accounts established by youth will be matched dollar for dollar through this partnership for approved savings plans and assets.
For more information, please call 865-523-2689.

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Lake Brook Academy

"Feelings of worth can flourish only in an atmosphere where individual differences are appreciated, mistakes are tolerated, communication is open, and rules are flexible - the kind of atmosphere that is found in a nurturing family" --Virginia Satir
Child & Family Tennessee offers an accredited school for teenagers who cannot attend public schools. We help young people connect and engage in learning in ways that will help them to become capable and self-sufficient adults. Our accredited school helps youth become re-integrated into community life, return home to live with families or on to adoption and permanent family placement or independent living.
Services offered:
Individualized program to focus on each child's needs
Small classrooms and small student to teacher ratios for more individualized care
Work closely with Child & Family Tennessee's Continuum program
On-site therapist
For more information, please call 865-246-1100.

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