Lookout Mountain
Youth Services Center
Director:
CAREN LEAF
Assistant Directors:
ANDERS JACOBSON & KERRY MARTEN
MISSION STATEMENT
We believe in the dignity and worth of all people. Our mission is to be a model of excellence, providing treatment for youth in a safe, secure and healthy environment. We create opportunities for positive growth and change.
“To teach, to learn, to share, to model, to understand, to be understood, to succeed, to promote positive change.”
WHERE ARE WE IN THE STATE STRUCTURE?
The Colorado Department of Human Services, Division of Youth Corrections is organized within the Executive Branch of the Colorado State Government to provide a statewide continuum of services and programs to assess, treat, and control juveniles placed in it’s care for delinquent behavior.
LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN YOUTH SERVICES CENTER
Lookout Mountain is a 214-bed treatment program for male students between 14 and 20 years of age, coming from several counties within the regions of Colorado.
The primary focus is to prepare the youth with sufficient skills for a positive transition back to the community.
The behavioral management program is based on Normative Culture and a cognitive based model called Thinking for a Change.
Typically, youth who enter Lookout Mountain have a serious offense history (e.g., sexual assault, assault, chronic property offenses), mental health difficulties and drug and alcohol abuse problems.
Students are involved in 5 hours per day of academic and/or vocational education. The Metro Academy at Lookout Mountain is operated by the Metropolitan State College of Denver and is a year round school. Youth may work towards their GED or high school diploma, take remedial classes to transition back into public school, enroll in a post-secondary program, or enter into vocational studies that provide youth with entry-level trade skills. In addition, Eligible Students are able to participate in High School Athletics that consist of Basketball, Track and Soccer.
The treatment program includes group, individual, and family counseling; all of which are a primary part of each youth’s program. Specific areas of focus are sex offender therapy, violent offender therapy, repeat property offender therapy, Alcohol and Other Drugs Therapy and Thinking for a Change as cognitive behavioral therapy.
Our program believes that every behavior has a purpose. It is our mission to help our youth understand their purpose and build upon their strengths and assets to prepare them for the community.
PROGRAMMING:
Programming has a strong emphasis on individual and group counseling to include:
· Offense specific treatment (sexual offense, violent offense, chronic property offense)
· Educational, vocational, and transitional services
· Cognitive behavioral restructuring
· Substance abuse treatment
· Family reunification
· Psychological/Psychiatric services
· Medical and dental care
· Spiritual life and pastoral care
· Recreation and challenge ropes course
· Normative Culture and Restorative Justice programming
· Transitional Services
· Intramural and High School Athletics
By offering a wide variety of services, it is our mission to provide all of the skills, guidance, and support necessary for our youth to successfully return to the community. The most difficult challenges for the youth are to accept that change must occur and that motivation is imperative.
A unique component of our program is our Normative Culture and Restorative Justice programming. All residents and staff, within our Lookout Mountain community, are valued members and all follow the philosophies and principals that Normative Culture and Restorative Justice entail.
Most of all, it is necessary to stress the importance of community and family involvement. We welcome families and communities to learn more about their youth and become a part of a growing effort for change.
Lookout Mountain is committed to the strength-based approach by not only looking at the deficits, but also understanding the strengths and assets of each of our youth and building upon those strengths.