Hope for Troubled Children

Youth Villages' commitment to helping troubled children and their families find success spans over 20 years and includes a comprehensive array of programs and services:

• In-Home Family Counseling (Intercept)
  
• Residential Treatment
  
• Treatment Foster Care
  
• Adoption Services
  
• Community-Based Services
  
• Transitional Living Services
  
• Specialized Crisis Services
  
• Intensive Residential Treatment

Our programs use the principles of treatment models that have been proven effective. Some of those models include:

• Multisystemic Therapy (MST)
  
• Treatment Foster Care
  
• Re-Education of Emotionally Disturbed Youth (Re-ED)

Our approach has been very successful. Today, over 1,500 counselors, teachers and skilled support staff provide Youth Villages' services from offices in 51 locations throughout Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Georgia, Florida, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.

Our Mission

Youth Villages helps children and families live successfully.

Our Values

Kids needs come first...Always
We make every decision in the best interest of each child. We adapt our programs to accommodate the special needs of children and families. Often we make personal sacrifices in order to help children and families achieve their potential.

Children are raised best by their families.
When at all possible, children belong with their families. We help families provide the support and structure that all children need.

We provide a safe place.
We provide care and treatment for children in an open, safe environment. We ensure that young people are physically and emotionally safe.

We strive to achieve positive, lasting results.
We help children and families develop skills to live successfully by focusing on areas that have a long-term impact on the family.

We are committed to our staff.
We recognize the many challenges our staff face each day. We value teamwork and help staff achieve their potential through an atmosphere of open communication, learning and fun.

We are each responsible for providing the highest level of service to our customers.
We deliver our best by listening and responding to our customers...every time, every day.

We constantly improve our performance to achieve excellence.
We measure our efforts by accessing our strengths and needs to identify areas for improvement. We believe that anything can be made better.

We create new programs to meet the needs of children, families and the community.
We develop innovative programs that serve children and families facing the most challenging circumstances. Our entrepreneurial spirit leads us to test the limits of existing services and create new opportunities.

We do what we say we do.
Our mission and values are more than just something to talk about. They guide all of our decisions. We believe that our integrity can only be measured by how we live by these values each day.

Over 20 Years of Helping Children


Founded in the merger of two residential treatment campuses in 1986, Youth Villages has grown to offer a complete continuum of programs and services and to become a nationally recognized leader in the field of children's mental health. Youth Villages employs 1,400 counselors, teachers and staff who work from 43 locations in seven states and the District of Columbia.


Two decades of success


1986

• Youth Villages is formed in Memphis, Tenn., when Dogwood Village merges with another youth residential center, Memphis Boys Town, creating a new nonprofit organization that helps approximately 80 children.
  
  
• Youth Villages achieves accreditation from Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO).

1987

• $1.6 million capital campaign results in the following construction at the Dogwood Village campus: 14,500-square-foot Morris-Wilson Campus School and Activities Center, the Judge Kenneth A. Turner Administration Building and two additional children's cottages.

1991

• Youth Villages expands to Middle Tennessee with the addition of Deer Valley, a residential campus located on more than 1,000 beautiful wooded acres near the Tennessee River in Linden.

1992

• Treatment Foster Care Program is initiated. Offices are added in Nashville, Cookeville and Jackson, Tenn.

1993

• Youth Villages conducts a study of children's services needs in rural West Tennessee. More than 126 children's services officials are interviewed as part of the study. The study reveals that the region's greatest need is intensive in-home counseling for troubled families.

1994

• Through start-up funds provided by the Plough Foundation and other donors, Youth Villages initiates an Intensive In-home Counseling Program (Intercept) using Multisystemic Therapy (MST) in collaboration with the Medical University of South Carolina. Youth Villages becomes the first agency to use MST on a large scale outside of clinical trials.
  Additional offices are opened in Dyersburg, Clarksville, Paris and Columbia.

1995

• The number of children served annually by Youth Villages tops 1,000.
  
• Youth Villages executes a fully integrated Continuum of Care, which has since become a model for other mental health care providers nationwide.
  
• A major expansion of the Morris-Wilson Campus School and Activities Center at the Dogwood Village campus adds 5,000-square-feet to the school.
  
• Youth Villages receives the Tennessee Quality Achievement Award.

1996

• Youth Villages receives the Greater Memphis Award for Quality.
  
• Youth Villages expands In-home Counseling to Mississippi; opens offices in Jackson.
  
• The United Way of America awards Youth Villages the Silver Excellence in Service Quality Award. Youth Villages is the first agency nationwide to receive this award, based on the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige criteria.

1997

• The Family Link, an agency that operates the area's only emergency shelter for runaway and homeless teens, becomes a program of Youth Villages.
  
• Office is opened in Jonesboro, Ark.
  Youth Villages opens Paidia's Place, a group home for girls with developmental disabilities.
  
• The 11,000-square-foot Mike Bruns Family Counseling Center opens at the Bartlett campus, the former Memphis Boys Town.
  
• Administrator Patrick W. Lawler receives the Thomas Briggs Community Service Award.

1998

• Nashville-based Serendipity House, founded in 1973, becomes a program of Youth Villages, doubling our capacity to care for children in Middle Tennessee. In addition to expanding the Treatment Foster Care and In-home Counseling programs, the partnership with Serendipity House brings new services to Youth Villages, including three group homes in the Nashville area.
  
• Youth Villages offers foster care in Mississippi through a new office in Tupelo.
  
• The Family Link Shelter moves into a newly renovated and more accessible 5,000-square-foot building.
  
• Youth Villages opens Coteswood Home, a group home for boys with developmental disabilities and no viable family support.

1999

• The Tennessee Medical Association names Youth Villages recipient of its Community Service Award.
  
• The Day Foundation funds a $2-million Transitional Living program to help children in aging out of foster care and state custody make a successful move to independence.
  
• LHS, Inc. makes a $1.5-million four-year grant to fund a research study for a pilot Multisystemic Therapy-based service model designed to prevent at-risk youth from entering state custody.
  
• Treatment Foster Care and Intensive In-home Counseling services are expanded statewide in Mississippi.
  
• Hobbs House, a group home for boys, is opened in Jackson, Tenn.

2000

• Adoption services for children with special needs are initiated throughout Tennessee.
  
• In recognition for its work with young people, Youth Villages receives the Bridges Salute to Youth Award.
  
• In February, Youth Villages opens Binkley Home, a group home in Nashville, Tenn.
  
• Services are expanded to East Tennessee with the opening of the Knoxville office.
  
• Through a donation from the Knights of Columbus, Youth Villages opens a third group home in the Memphis area, Brunswick Home.
  
• Youth Villages tops 2,000 children served annually.
  
• The Franklin Covey Company names Youth Villages the recipient of its Humanitarian Service Award at its 7th Annual International Symposium.
  
• Youth Villages is cited as a national model in a study commissioned by the American Youth Policy Forum in Washington, D.C.
  
• The National Coalition for Juvenile Justice highlights Youth Villages as a national model in its annual report and calls for other states to implement similar programs.

2001

• The Youth Villages In-home Counseling program expands to Dallas, Texas, and further into East Tennessee with the opening of additional offices in Chattanooga and Johnson City.
  
• Youth Villages conducts its most successful fund-raising campaign -- raising more than $11 million for the construction of a new school and activities center and a Center for Intensive Residential Treatment on the Bartlett campus. Ground is broken for the two buildings. Highlights of the capital campaign include:
  Matching a challenge grant from the Plough Foundation, raising a total of $6 million.
  
  The receipt of the at the time largest single contribution in Youth Villages' history -- a gift of $2.5 million from the Barret Trust.
  
  
• The Middle Tennessee regional headquarters expands in Nashville.
  
• Youth Villages is cited in a national report by the American Youth Policy Forum as one of eight "guiding light" models in the United States with programs that successfully reduce the incidence of juvenile crime.

2002

• The Youth Villages In-home Counseling program expands into Alabama with the opening of offices in Anniston and Huntsville.
  
• The Treatment Foster Care program expands into East Tennessee in the existing locations in Knoxville, Chattanooga and Johnson City.
  
• An additional Mississippi office opens in Hattiesburg, offering both In-home Counseling and Treatment Foster Care to the coastal region of the state.
  
• Youth Villages launches a new program, CHOICES, to help children with severe developmental disabilities. Based on extensive research with parents, the program offers two distinct services:
  in-home support to families of children with developmental disabilities
  
  and
  
  professional support homes for children whose families are not able to care for them in their own homes.
  
  
• The Adoption Program celebrates its 50th placement of a special-needs child in an adoptive home.
  
• Construction is completed on the Paul Barret Jr. School, and the state-of-the-art learning and activities center opens its doors to Youth Villages students.
  
• Youth Villages helps more children than ever before -- having served more than 3,000 children and their families during 2002.

2003

• Offices in Dickson and Morristown,Tenn., open in order to enhance services in Middle and East Tennessee.
  
• The state-of-the-art $7.5-million Center for Intensive Residential Treatment opens at the Bartlett campus. The 44,000-square-foot building accommodates up to 62 children with more serious mental health needs.
  
• The Specialized Crisis Services program is launched statewide in Tennessee. Mobile crisis counselors serve children under 18 years of age who experience an acute psychiatric emergency.

2004

• The newly formed Memphis Grizzlies Charitable Foundation chooses Youth Villages to receive its first gift -- a $500,000 grant -- and also partners with Youth Villages to promote mentoring and literacy.
  
• The Multisystemic Therapy (MST), treatment model receives national recognition and approval from the prestigious National Institutes of Health. Youth Villages is the largest provider of MST and MST-based programs in the world.
  
• Youth Villages serves more than 8,000 children and their families during 2004.
  
• Youth Villages receives a $250,000-planning grant from the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation to work with the Bridgespan Group to develop a strategic business plan.

2005

• Washington, D.C., awards Youth Villages a contract to provide Multisystemic Therapy to foster children.
  
• Youth Villages increased its presence in the state of Alabama with the expansion of our nationally recognized Treatment Foster Care program.
  
• The prestigious New York City-based Edna McConnell Clark Foundation seeks out and selects
• Youth Villages as one of a handful of nonprofits in the nation that the foundation is willing to support in order to replicate Youth Villages' services and plan strategic growth for the future.
  
• Youth Villages began an In-home Counseling program in the state of North Carolina.
  Youth Villages helps more than 11,000 children and their families.

2006

• Youth Villages expands to Mobile, AL and Hickory, NC.
  
  2007
  
  
  • Youth Villages expands to Wilmington, NC and Lawrence, MA.
    
  • Youth Villages expands its Transitional Living program across the state of Tennessee.

Golfers Play for Emotionally-Troubled Kids

July 28, 2006

The third Annual FORE Kids Golf Tournament, held recently in Dyersburg, raised more than $9,000 for Youth Villages.

"The event has grown tremendously over the past three years, and we are thrilled to see the support for our children to continue to grow here in West Tennessee," says Carrie Petty, a placement coordinator for Youth Villages, Dyersburg, and a lead organizer of the event. "It's great to be able to do something that directly benefits our children and also helps us raise awareness of our organization and the needs of emotionally-troubled children."

One hundred forty-four golfers in teams of four participated in the event, which also received support from many private and corporate donors.

Among the sponsors were: David Alexander, Regina Harris, Charles Kelly, as well as Abe's Ribeye Barn, Ken Agee, Dave Crockett, McDonald's, Darrell Sells and Sonic. The following businesses also provided in-kind donations: Ag Center, Applebee's, Country Mart, Dyersburg Municipal Golf Course, Dyersburg State Gazette, Jimmy Dean, Kroger, Lowe's of Dyersburg, Manner's, McDonald's, Moody Wadley, Sonic and Tigrett & Pennington.

Experience a career at Youth Villages!

The Youth Villages Internship Program offers you unique, hands-on experience working with emotionally and behaviorally troubled youth in a residential, group home or home-based counseling setting in Memphis or one of our many other locations. A week-long orientation prepares you to work closely with our staff and learn to carry out many of the same duties, including group therapy, one-on-one processing, teaching life skills, organizing recreational therapy activities and more.

Our Internship Program also is a lot of fun. Community housing arrangements and organized group activities and outings to baseball games, Graceland, cosmic bowling and a smashing intern bash ensure you have plenty of fun things to do.

Youth Villages offers internships year round. Summer internships are 40 hours a week for 10 weeks and are paid. Fall or spring internships are for credit only; schedules are flexible.