Christamore House more than a temporary home to some children

For some kids, the chance to have a better life is difficult. For these kids, a treatment facility can sometimes make the difference between surviving and thriving.

Young House Family Services Treatment Facility, better known as The Christamore Family Treatment Center, located at 905 S. Iris St. Mt. Pleasant, is a qualified treatment facility for young people between the ages of 11 to 17.

The facility is an unlocked co-ed facility that assists in the treatment of at-risk youth. Christamore provides a moderate level of structure and security to lives of children who are otherwise struggling to find their place in today’s world.

“We have a shelter program, where children are referred here by the Juvenile court system or DHS,” said Christamore Program Director Kevin Holden. “We are a short term stopping point, less than 30 days, while the children are being processed into a foster home, residential treatment program or other such facilities.”

The other part of the Christamore is the Residential Treatment Program. It is here where the children are provided a length of stay that is longer than currently feasible at most hospital settings.

“We have three shelter beds, and we have 13 residential beds at this facility,” said Holden. “Under the Family First legislation, we are qualified treatment facility. Those who use the residential facility are also court ordered here. They have tried other programs and those situations did not work for them, so they send them here.”

The CFTC offers an intensive therapeutic focus that strives to get to the core of the children’s problems in their care. CFTC offers treatment to each of the children in their care.

“We work with them around the clock,” said Holden. “The kids live here, eat here, and go to school here. We are not a locked facility. There are no female locked facilities in Iowa, the male locked facilities are located in Davenport.”

Most of the children that attend the facility have a history of juvenile delinquency or are court ordered from DHS because the parents can no longer manage the children.

“Most of the children that are at Christamore are here because of some type of trauma,” said Holden. “Whether they have been abused, both physically or sexually, or neglected they are here for help.”

“Our job is to help these kids deal with their trauma, and become more socially acceptable in their behaviors,” said Holden. “It can be quite difficult, because some of these children have extremely sad back stories. Every kid has their own story, and they are here to turn their lives around.”

The staff, and teachers at Christamore are there to help the children modify their dysfunctional behaviors and to teach coping skills to help them maintain a better life through positive feedback and encouragement in an effort to help them grow into healthy individuals that can manage themselves in society.

Christamore offers a multidisciplinary treatment approach that includes a counseling therapist, a consulting psychiatrist, a case worker, an education specialist, substance abuse counselors and behavioral health specialists.

“We work with the children while they are here,” said Holden. “We do have a therapist, and we do a behavior health intervention service with them every day. The group is designed to work with anger management, communication skills, relationship building and decision making.”

These are basic skills that are needed for them to become an asset to society,” explained Holden.

“We are here to service the eastern Iowa area,” said Holden. “Although now, because of availability issues for care, we do have clients that come from a wider area than normal. We normally cover a ten county area for service. We are doing more than that.”

“The program is designed to be between four to six months long, although we do have some children that will stay longer than that,” said Holden. “Foster care is difficult to find, and some of these children do not have anywhere else to go.”