Residential Treatment
Transform Your Life with Therapeutic Services and Unrelenting Support
in the Abbott House Residential Treatment Program
A happy, productive future awaits in Abbott House’s Residential Treatment Program, backed by a support system that you’ll carry with you for the rest of your life.
Based in Mitchell, SD, Abbott House provides the foremost therapeutic residential treatment support services for young women, ages 7 to 18, in the Midwest. Operating as a living and learning community, the skilled professionals at Abbott House provide an incredible swath of support services to help our youth overcome the burdens facing them beyond the walls of our care. Through courage, achievement, and harmony, the namesakes of each section of treatment, our youth will not only overcome adversity, but they will soar to new heights as they exit our program with tools, resources, and an incredible support system.
Residential Services
When girls are first admitted to Abbott House, they are placed in the Courage Unit. This unit has a higher staff to girl ratio and affords our staff the opportunity to get to know each girl and help them feel comfortable at Abbott House. As they begin to work in their program, girls will move to either the Harmony Unit or the Achievement Unit depending on their age and therapeutic needs. Girls will typically spend 12 to 15 months at Abbott House, depending on their individual circumstances and their openness to treatment.
Our residential staff facilitate a number of psycho-educational groups, teach social and daily life skills, manage daily routines and are there for the girls during those times when strong emotions overwhelm them.
Abbott House is not meant to serve solely as a place to “get help,” it’s a place where you can grow, meet new people, and enjoy many freedoms that are earned over time. While here, our youth find immense opportunities to grow as individuals in their own learning skills, coping skills, emotional regulation skills and social skills as they work to overcome their own unique circumstances. With a structural framework in place, designed to guide our youth to resilience and harmony, we’re doing amazing things together – and you can too.
Therapeutic Services Designed to Help Young Women Succeed
While many of the girls we see have experienced sexual abuse, drug and alcohol abuse, and devastating emotional setbacks, each girl responds to her situation uniquely. Because there is no uniform response to victimization, dependency needs or emotional problems, our program contains unique, individual adaptations. Utilizing a trauma-based approach to our immense variety of services, our girls find courage within themselves to achieve amazing things and live a harmonious life, growing beyond the many adversities they have faced. Healing the trauma is necessary to move forward in our lives.
Along with individual and family therapy, Abbott House’s clinical team offers a variety of specialized therapeutic groups to cater to the individual needs of every person who enters our care. These groups include:
- Sexual Abuse Group for youth who have experienced intra-familial or extra-familial sexual abuse.
- Mood Management Group for youth that experience depression as a persistent problem in their lives.
- Anger Control Training that helps youth identify emotional triggers and teaches strategies for anger management.
- Children of Alcoholics groups focus on the experience of a child in an alcoholic home and the role that they themselves play in alcoholism.
- Intensive Chemical Dependency Treatment provides the child that is diagnosed with a substance abuse problem with treatment for their recovery.
Our therapists are also trained in a variety of therapeutic techniques including Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Neurofeedback, Bio Feedback, Cognitive Behavior Therapy, and Dialectical Behavior Therapy to name a few. We are able to provide equine therapy, drug and alcohol services and yoga using resources in our community.
Abbott House’s sensory room is a therapeutic space with a variety of equipment and stimuli to help residents develop and engage their senses. It’s through personalized sensory input that helps residents learn how to calm and focus themselves so they can be better prepared for learning and interacting with others. Tools used in the sensory room include weights, weighted blankets, textured toys and fidgets, puzzle toys, scented essential oils and lotions, and so much more!
Children at Abbott House have access to a wide range of medical services, receive regular psychological evaluations and meet with a psychiatrist regularly.
Education
While at Abbott House, girls attend an on-campus school. Transcripts are received from past schools and girls are placed in similar classes when they are admitted to Abbott House. Each girl works at their own pace in an individualized curriculum based upon their needs in areas of grade placement, skill level, and behavioral goals. Some of our girls are on an Individual Education Plan (IEP) and Abbott House works with each girl to meet her IEP goals. Classrooms have a certified teacher as well as an assistant so girls receive one on one help. Teaching staff closely monitor and evaluate each student’s performance and testing is used to assure that the girl’s achievement level is increasing. This unique school is in session 250 days each year, thereby extending the learning opportunities and increasing the chances of successful academic performance after the girls leave.
Giving Back to the Community
All youth participate in volunteer community service and local resources are used for many recreational activities. In the past, Abbott House youth have visited residents in a local nursing home, helped at the Salvation Army, and delivered Meals on Wheels.
If you believe residential treatment may benefit your child, yourself, or someone you know, please contact Abbott House to learn more about our transformative services and admissions procedures.