About Us

The Youth We Serve

St. Clair serves male youth in high school from communities throughout Michigan, including youth placed by County or State placing agencies. Youth considered for admission to St. Clair Youth Treatment Center shall be placed through the Juvenile Justice Assignment Unit (JJAU) process to ensure their treatment needs align with St. Clair’s Evidence-Based Mental Health Program (EBMH) services.

The length of stay will be based on meeting the goals and dosage prescribed in the youth’s Individual Treatment Plan as well as the requirements of the Court, County and/or State Placing Agency. Following best practices and ensuring the maximum benefit is achieved while in treatment, a youth’s length of stay may be 9 to 12 months.

Providing Trauma-Informed and Gender-Specific Care

Trained, qualified employees are critical to safe, effective programing and services for youth. Staff members are age-appropriate role models, and by staying involved with the youth in their care, they are more able to ascertain the attitudes, mental states, and needs of the youth in their care. St. Clair utilizes a rich direct care staff to youth of 1:4 during the day, and 1:8 during the night. A licensed Clinical Director oversees the Therapists and Clinical Department, and registered or licensed Nurses are on-site or available at all times.

Qualifying & Exclusionary Criteria

Youth entering the program will have a history of delinquent behaviors, disruptive behavior disorders, moderate mental health disorders (not requiring in-patient care), exposure to violence and trauma, family dysfunction, and co-occurring substance abuse disorders. As an EBMH, our programming does not serve youth who present with sexually maladaptive or sexually reactive behaviors, developmental delay/cognitive impairment or who need specialized residential substance abuse treatment.

Integrated Care Model

Rite of Passage’s Integrated Care Model illustrates how we can transform young lives. It is within a multi-tiered Integrated Care Model framework that St. Clair will provide specific methods, practices, and services to youth that fulfill their treatment needs.

This is an operational framework that is based on the following:

Foundation of Safety and Caring Relationships

We emphasize therapeutic rapport, engagement, and trust in a structured and predictable environment as a means of responding to and guiding all interactions with youth. Our trauma-responsive services form the basis of safe and caring relationships with staff.

Understanding Needs and Strengths

We use nationally-recognized, validated assessments (including Michigan Juvenile Justice Assessment System, MAYSI-2, and other assessments as required) to evaluate each youth’s individual needs and strengths through the Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) process. Youth’s risk level is accurately assessed, and evidence-based and promising interventions are prescribed based on risk and needs assessment principles. This is how St. Clair creates an Individualized Treatment Plan for each youth, tailoring treatment inventions and other programmatic elements to the youth, addressing specific mental health, substance abuse and specialized juvenile needs.

Developing and Practicing Skills

Developing and Practicing Skills is how youth learn a full complement of essential life skills, ranging from self-care to self-advocacy. ROP will use evidence-based, cognitive-behavioral approaches, which target criminogenic risk factors while developing new skills and pro-social behaviors. Therapeutic modalities shall include individual, family and group as prescribed by the Treatment Plan. All skills are practiced within the trauma-responsive environment that focuses on youth strengths and Positive Youth Development (PYD). Examples of skill development and PYD approaches include recreation/sports, cultural/spiritual activities, community service, and student council.

Goal Attainment