Contracted Services

The services and programs listed below are available only through referral by a state agency. Saint Vincent’s contracts with the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families to provide a continuum of residential treatment options for youth.

Saint Vincent’s Community Treatment Residence (CTR) provides a community-based congregate care setting for adolescent male clients, ages 13 to 21, with a focus on the development of age-appropriate life skills. The program provides a therapeutic, goal-directed alternative for youth who are unable to live in their home and is intended to be a step-down or alternative to a more restrictive level of care.

While residing at the group home, youth attend school within the community, including public school, special education, or collaborative programs.  Staff members work closely with family members and community resources with the goal of reunification, whenever possible. Each youth’s clinician serves as the liaison with families, collaterals, and providers to ensure both timely and accurate reporting of treatment information. The clinician also addresses educational advocacy issues and supports parents, educational surrogate parents and others to ensure the proper educational placement for those youth requiring special education programming.

Saint Vincent’s Intensive Treatment Residence (ITR) provides an on-campus congregate care setting for children, ages 4 to 21, with a focus on the development of age-appropriate skills. The program provides a therapeutic, goal-directed alternative for children who require a high level of supervision, behavioral support, and structure to develop the skills necessary for successful community re-integration.

While residing in the ITR setting, children attend school within the community, including public school, special education, or collaborative programs. Staff members work closely with family members and community resources with the goal of reunification, whenever possible. Each child’s clinical care manager serves as the liaison with families, collaterals, and providers to ensure both timely and accurate reporting of treatment information. The clinical care manager also addresses educational advocacy issues and supports parents, educational surrogate parents, and others to ensure the proper educational placement for those children requiring special education programming..

Saint Vincent’s Young Parent Living Program (YPLP) is an independent living program that serves young mothers from ages 13 to 22. The program supports and educates these young mothers in basic parenting skills and life skills while providing stability to the young mother and her child/children. Through this supportive family approach, these young mothers can continue to enhance their education and skills to build a solid foundation for their young families.

While residing in the Young Parent Living Program, the mothers attend school within the community, including public school, special education-collaborative, or GED programs. After completion of secondary education, the mothers must be involved with vocational training, employed, or engaged with both.  Summer programming is also provided by the Saint Vincent’s Life Skills staff to ensure the young parents have structured opportunities to increase their education and vocational training. 

Our staff members work closely with family members, life-long connections, and community resources to develop and maintain nurturing relationships that will support the youth in the community.

Based on referral by a Department of Children and Families area office, the Emergency Residence (ER) program provides campus- or group home-based short-term placement services, including emergency shelter and intensive short-term assessment and therapy, for young children and adolescents. The immediate focus is on stabilizing the child’s current crisis, then making recommendations for their ongoing treatment within the community. Stabilization and permanency in the community are the ultimate goals.

This program builds on the child’s and family’s strengths and develops a flexible array of individualized services to meet their unique circumstances. Saint Vincent’s provides a comprehensive assessment of the strengths and needs of each child and family, creating a strong foundation of understanding upon which to build future treatment decisions. Children may attend public school while participating in the ER program.

Serving children and youth ages 4 to 19 and their families, the Support and Stabilization program is designed to prevent the need for out-of-home placement and/or to provide focused aftercare support for children and youth when they need it most: after discharge from a treatment environment, when transitioning home.

Children and families in the child welfare and behavioral health systems are most vulnerable when they are expected to break old ties and establish new, trusting treatment relationships. In many cases, it makes sense for a provider who has built an effective relationship with a child and family during an out-of-home placement to remain connected with them through the transition home in order to offer ongoing support.

Stabilization and permanency are the ultimate goals of our Support and Stabilization Program. We assess each child’s situation through the lens of child-focused, family-centered and culturally competent practice, with a reverence for the primacy of family; a commitment to working with families as partners; and a belief in the power of building on the strengths and resiliency of those we serve.

Saint Vincent’s Life Skills program provides youth, ages 14 to 21, with the education, skills, training and guidance to prepare them for the transition to independent living and young adulthood. Instruction in daily living and organizational skill sets as well as vocational training provide opportunities to development employable skills, consider future career options and make good choices. The Life Skills program supports youth as they complete their education, develop vocational interests and skills, secure employment and begin to learn the life skills necessary to live independently. For those youth whose family ties are minimal, the program prioritizes alternative relationship-building as a means of developing lifelong experiences toward self-sufficiency.

Life Skills promotes cultural sensitivity, self-determination and community participation. The program helps to ensure that youth live, work and further their education as independently as possible after transitioning from Saint Vincent’s. Whether working toward completing their education or engaging in vocational training or meaningful work experiences, youth partner with Life Skills program staff to achieve success by building on their strengths, learning new skills and developing competence.