Resident Life

Developing Critical Life Skills in a Caring Home Setting

Journey Home is the perfect fit for girls ages 16 – 21 seeking to build on skills learned in therapeutic settings, who still need continued assistance in developing further life skills. Journey Home is designed to be a 6 to 12 month transitional program. During the day, residents work a local job or attend a local high school or college. In the evening, residents return to the home setting with other Journey Home residents and staff.

Journey Home combines the warmth and comfort of a traditional home setting with the continued guiding hand of staff. This means that our residents live in a home setting on a quiet cul-de-sac with other young women who are also coming out of treatment programs.

As part of the program, residents strengthen critical life skill responsibilities such as:

Our Guides Help Residents Achieve Success

Healthy Living and Social Integration, two of the five core principles, include a focus on learning to use positive recreational activities as part of a healthy lifestyle. We teach the value of residents developing hobbies and interests as well as ways residents can have healthy “fun”.

Residents at the Journey Home are encouraged to pursue positive hobbies, develop talents and skills, and participate in fun, leisure activities. Many of these activities are planned and developed by the Journey Home girls and staff to do together. Girls are also encouraged to pursue some of these activities on their own.

Some of the regular group activities at the Journey Home include “Fun Food Friday”, snowsports in the winter, visiting museums, going to movies, exploring the local outdoors by hiking and biking, and many other local events and activities.

Educational or Vocational Development

Journey Home residents who are looking to continue their education can do so at Journey Home. For some students, this means attending a local high school or working remotely on a GED. Residents can also pursue college course curriculum through local college options or online coursework.
Other residents work at a local job, typically in retail or local restaurants. Journey Home helps residents through the selection and interview process.
Part of the value in both school and holding a job is to reinforce the important life skills of time management, being accountable, and doing something well.

Classes, Instruction, and Therapy

Our goal is to help residents transition from structured residential programs to home. To do this we try to bring the best of both “worlds” – the continued clinical assistance of a program with the practical, real-life aspects of home.

All the girls at the Journey Home participate in classes such as the following:

• Nutrition and cooking
• Financial literacy: planning, budgeting, and goal-setting
• Healthy relationships and dating
• Therapy
• Other classes as determined by need and interests to the girls

Unlike many other transition programs, residents at the Journey Home participate in weekly therapy, alternating between family and individual sessions. During the week, residents also attend two group therapy sessions, led by the Journey Home therapist. These groups are Healthy Lifestyles and a therapeutic processing group.