One of the unique aspects of being part of the Youth Dynamics team is the time that CEO, Peter Degel, puts into making sure that every member of the team knows about the successes and future plans of the agency. Aside from getting to know employees in person, he hosts a group call with the entire Youth Dynamics team once every three months. Peter hosted one of these calls on Wednesday, January 25th, and had a lot of exciting things to share about the successes over the last year. Peter also shared some exciting future plans with the Youth Dynamics team.
Successes from 2016
From clients served and number of services provided, Youth Dynamics has grown and improved its ability to provide mental and behavioral health care to children and adolescents across Montana. Most strikingly, during the last year, most of the children served by Youth Dynamics graduated to needing fewer services and less professional support to be successful at home, in school, and in their communities!
One of the major priorities that Peter emphasized for the team is that Youth Dynamics continues to not have waiting lists for families in need of support. Peter noted, “A family is already in crisis when they contact us, and they don’t have time to wait for an appointment that is two weeks or a month out.” Last year, the time from referral to families accessing services was as little as under twenty four hours.
Peter also lifted up the Youth Dynamics foster care program as meeting an important need for Montana children. At a time when Montana is facing its highest ever rate of children entering foster care, Youth Dynamics’ ability to provide excellent foster homes is growing. The foster care program has grown substantially over the last year, and now includes 72 licensed homes all over Montana.
Exciting Future Initiatives
Youth Dynamics continues its work to become a more trauma informed agency. This process began two years ago with a partnership with the University of Montana in Missoula. Through Youth Dynamics’ partnership with the University of Montana, the care to children in services has improved through integrating more trauma informed practices, as well as through strengthening current practices. In the coming year, one of the major steps forward will be to work on employee strategies for self-care and dealing with secondary trauma.
Additionally, Youth Dynamics has been expanding substance abuse services to meet the needs of families across the state for chemical dependency care paired with mental healthcare. Youth Dynamics will continue to make the expansion of substance abuse services a priority. Peter highlighted the addition of substance abuse services to our group home in Boulder, Montana. He noted, “Adding substance abuse services to our services at therapeutic group homes makes our program offerings unique.” Youth Dynamics has also expanded substance abuse services to Missoula in order to meet the growing need for co-occurring treatment in the area. Peter announced that over the next year, Youth Dynamics will continue to add new locations to their substance abuse program, starting with Great Falls.
Peter closed his address by thanking all of the members of the Youth Dynamics team for the work they do for the children and families they serve. He expressed his gratefulness for being able to work with such a dedicated team.
