Our Challenge

The heart of Youth Homes’ enrichment services is an insistence that underserved youth deserve to thrive, not just survive, as part of their growth and healing. The practical and emotional upheaval that can happen as part of a child’s placement into foster care can be difficult enough to cope with, but children need more than just stability – they need opportunities for joy, wonder, creativity, exploration, and normality.

These non-traditional therapeutic opportunities are meant to build youth while complementing the services that are part of all Youth Homes services.

Key ingredients of these services include: youth engagement with creativity, nature, physical activity, and building pride in their accomplishments.

Our Approach

Primarily funded by donors, our enrichment services pair experienced behavioral health staff with skilled subject experts in photography, gardening, horse-therapy and other activities to unite individual youth treatment goals with skills developed as part of the group-enrichment activity.

With an emphasis on emotional expression and managing emotions in new ways, our Enrichment Services are an enjoyable way for youth of all backgrounds to engage with new experiences in safe settings. Apart from having fun, these connections to the outside world, nature, and peers help youth build self-awareness, confidence, and mindfulness as they heal from past trauma while learning specific skills.

What to Expect

Horse-Therapy

In partnership with a local horse ranch, increases youth emotional regulation and helps reduce stress and high reactivity to others. Our photography program evolved when youth in our garden and horse-therapy program wanted to photograph their experiences. Now photography is offered independently to encourage youth to find their own voice and show the unique ways they see the world.

The Summer Garden Jobs

Engages youth in hands-on organic gardening in our gardens. Participants also visit community gardens, take part in cooking activities using their harvested produce, and build vocational skills like teamwork and time management.

Group and individual music lessons as well as a team and individual sports and physical activities, also build talents and like the rest of our Enrichment Services, focus on self-expression, self-acceptance, and self-worth.