ST. Vincent home for children (svhc), with a 172-year history of serving children, youth, and their families, distinguishes itself from other agencies serving at-risk youth by providing behavioral…

ST. Vincent home for children (svhc), with a 172-year history of serving children, youth, and their families, distinguishes itself from other agencies serving at-risk youth by providing behavioral health services as a key element of its programs. Svhc's location in the municipality of normandy, centered in north ST. Louis county, provides a safe haven for at-risk youth in distressed communities characterized by low-performing or unaccredited schools and significant economic and social challenges. Svhc's transitional living program (TLP) will assist 39 homeless and at-risk youth, including youth transitioning out of foster care, aged 16-19 from ST. Louis city and ST. Louis county over the course of the 3 years of the project. The TLP seeks to build youths' protective factors and equip youth with the necessary skills to facilitate a transition into self-sufficient adulthood and permanent housing. The TLP will follow a trauma-informed, strengths-based model, which includes relevant, youth-centered, evidence-based practices, an array of collaborations and partnerships, continuous quality improvement, and strong performance measures and evaluation. TLP staff, consisting of therapists, case managers, life skills coach, youth leadership specialist and youth development specialists will provide an 18-month, tiered housing approach for youth, utilizing a communal setting and transitioning to a semi-independent, apartment-style setting once progress towards goals are evident. Services provided by the team will include individual and group therapy, mentoring, support with educational attainment, supported employment, life skills instruction, and assistance to transition to permanent housing. TLP therapists will apply the practices of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT), and solution- focused brief therapy (sfbt) to help youth process trauma and other adverse experiences. Svhc expects to achieve the following outcomes: 70% of TLP youth who have at least 2 casey life skills assessment scores will gain independent living/essential life skills as evidenced by an increase in the score on the casey life skills assessment. 70% of TLP youth who have at least 2 CD-risc-10 scores will develop resiliency skills as evidenced by an increased score on the CD-risc-10. 70% of TLP youth who have at least 2 ohio scales scores will experience an increase in personal strengths/functioning as evidenced by an increase of at least one point in the functioning scale of the ohio scales for youth.