Treatment Services

Milieu Treatment

One of the most significant features of day treatment and care is the therapeutic “milieu.” The term milieu describes the therapeutic environment that includes all the clients, staff, and activities in the program. The milieu setting offers an opportunity for your child or teen to practice safe and appropriate interactions with peers and adults while becoming more responsible. Treatment staff is available during the school day to help clients with anything that may come up during the day.

Individual Therapy

All clients are assigned and scheduled to meet with their Child and Family Therapist 1-2 times weekly for individual therapy. They may also check in with their therapist at other times when in need of additional support.

Family Therapy

Families are an important part of the treatment team and family therapy is a key part of a client’s treatment. Our goal is to learn more about your family and incorporate your family values into the treatment here, while supporting the client and family to develop more successful interactions. Our Child and Family Therapist will work with you to establish a schedule for therapy sessions which is both convenient for your family and adequate to meet therapy goals.

Medication Therapy

Medication therapy and stabilization is an important piece of all clients’ overall treatment. In addition to the psychiatrist’s evaluation upon admission, each young person meets with the psychiatrist on a regular basis. You will be involved in decisions regarding medications for your child, and you will have an opportunity to ask any questions you have to make sure you understand the medications and any potential side effects. Clients are encouraged to discuss how they feel about the medication and if it is or is not working for them. Families may also call and talk with the psychiatrist about their child’s medications.

Treatment Plans

Each child at Meadowlark will have an Individual Plan of Care (IPC) which outlines personal goals for treatment. Treatment plans are designed to meet the individual needs of each one of our clients, through a collaborative process

Attendance

We recommend that students attend each day of treatment throughout the week. Many children experience difficulty attending or transitioning to school and our staff will be able to offer them support during these transitions.

Allowable Dress & Grooming

• Students must wear clothing including both a shirt with pants or skirt, or the equivalent and shoes.

• All clothing must have fabric in the front, back and on the sides, fully covering privates and buttocks at all times. The majority of the midriff must be covered.

• Clothing must cover undergarments, waistbands and bra straps excluded.

• Fabric covering all private parts and buttocks must not be see through.

• Clothing must be suitable for participation in scheduled activities, which may include yoga, physical activity, sports, art, and community outings.

Non-Allowable Dress & Grooming

• Clothing may not depict, advertise or advocate:

• Use of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana or other controlled substances

  1. Pornography, nudity or sexual acts

  2. Hate speech targeting groups based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, religious affiliation or any other protected groups

  3. Gang identifiers

If the student’s attire or grooming threatens the health or safety of any other person, or does not meet the standards outlined above, they will be asked to change their clothing.

Personal Possessions

Day Treatment provides all the materials needed in order to participate in school and any materials required for outings or special projects. It is unnecessary to send children to school with supplies or money for supplies, projects, or outings. Your child may want to bring a backpack with items from home to transport their daily progress reports or items to keep them occupied on their transportation. Please limit the amount of these items to one or two small items that can fit in their backpack. Once the child is at school, all personal items will be stored in their backpack in a safe area. Trillium Family Services is not responsible for lost, stolen, or misplaced personal items.

Please do not bring the following items to Day Treatment:

• Real or toy weapons, knives, chains

• Drugs, cigarettes, alcohol

• Sexually explicit materials

• Lighters or matches

• Magazines / newspapers with inappropriate content

• Glass or metal objects (including bottles or metal spiral notebooks)

• Valuable toys, items, or money

Your child may bring a cell phone to school, and these are turned into classroom staff and placed in a locked safe area away from the classroom during school hours. Cell phones are returned to students at the end of the day. If you need to reach your child during school hours, please call their Child & Family Therapist or the Clinical Manager.

Search Procedures

Searches of client’s and their belongings will be conducted daily before entering the program to ensure safety of all individuals. Trillium program staff may conduct searches of clients or their personal effects, for the purpose of eliminating contraband and protecting the clients and/or others.

Contraband is defined as any item prohibited in any particular program. Common examples would be weapons, sharps, illegal substances, including cigarettes and fire-starting material, as well as items promoting sex, drugs, violence or gang related themes. These items are reviewed with the client upon orientation.

Transportation

All Day Treatment clients are dropped off for treatment and picked up from Day Treatment, directly in front of the main front doors. At pick-up, a staff member will escort children from their classrooms to their transportation directly after program ends.

Safety is a top priority for your child and it is important to inform us of changes to their routine or schedule. Please complete the Authorization to Transport Form (see attached) with a list of which individuals or options you authorize to transport your child to or from Day Treatment. If your child is not riding the regularly scheduled transportation to or from program, please complete the following steps:

• If you have School District / County Transportation, please call the transportation company to inform them of the change in schedule.

• Contact the Day Treatment Receptionist to inform them of the change, include information regarding how the child will be transported and the date and time of change.

• Any individuals (not parents or guardians) transporting the child must show identification, be listed as an authorized transportation resource, and sign the child out in the front office.

Manual Restraint

In situations where children are responding in ways that create danger either for themselves or for others, staff may use manual restraint or seclusion to keep everyone safe. Staff are trained to supervise clients closely to identify problems before they begin, and we do our best to intervene proactively to avoid unsafe behaviors. However, at times these incidents are impossible to avoid, and staff use restraint or seclusion as a last resort when needed.

Restraint- being physically held to prevent movement- can be a humiliating and scary experience. If any child exhibits behavior that is dangerous to self or others that leads to either a physical restraint or seclusion, the parent or guardian will be notified promptly.

After these types of incidents, staff work to discuss the incident with the child and with staff who were present, in order to learn from the situation and make attempts to avoid similar situations in the future. We work hard to help children use positive coping skills to remain safe, and offer them alternatives so they are able to express their feelings without dangerous behaviors.

Bringing Medications to Program

1. All medications must be delivered to the school by a parent or guardian and given directly to staff by an approved adult. Children may not carry their own medication.

2. A doctor’s order needs to accompany all medications given at school. Without a doctor’s order, we will be unable to give the medication. If medications are being prescribed by Parry Center, we will have this medication on file and it is not necessary to supply this information.

3. If the medication is to be given both at home and at school, ask the pharmacy to give you an extra labeled bottle to send to school.

4. Parents/Guardians will be notified in writing when the medication supply needs to be refilled. If requested, the empty bottle can be sent home with the student to be refilled. Students are not allowed to transport their own medication. At no time will a bottle with any medication be sent home with a student.

5. Parents/Guardians must bring in refills or additional medication and give them directly to staff. They cannot be transported by the student.

6. All medication, prescription and over-the-counter, must be in a pharmacy labeled prescription bottle or original package, clearly labeled with the following information:

• Student’s name

• Time and dosages to be given

• Doctor’s name

7. Leftover medication must be picked up by the parents or guardian when the medication is discontinued or the student has been discharged from Day Treatment. Medication that is not picked up within 10 school days will be destroyed.