The Residential Program

Established in 1970 in Goochland County, Virginia, the Residential Program offers a safe and caring environment in which a young man can learn to identify, analyze, and acquire skills to cope with his problems, improve his academic and social skills, and develop self-confidence and responsibility. With an average length of stay of about 12 months, Elk Hill's success in helping young men is achieved through the Values Program. While the young men's primary focus is achieving a series of well-defined goals in their counseling program, the Residential Program encompasses a full array of wellness-building and skill-enhancement components.

The Values Program

The Values Program of Elk Hill Farm is designed to assist youth in making tough changes in their troubled lives. The program works with young people and their families to help them develop or rediscover a values system with a foundation of respect, responsibility, hard work, and education. Individualized educational services are provided that promote learning as a life-long achievement. Youths learn to examine and build trusting, caring relationships with others within the Elk Hill community and in their home communities. One of the principle aims of the program is to help young people understand the importance and reality of natural, logical, and imposed consequences. Under the guidance of the staff and teachers of Elk Hill Farm, the youth are encouraged to promote an environment that maintains physical, psychological, social, moral, and ethical safety for themselves and others. The youth are held accountable when these expectations are not met. Progress in the Values Program is determined by compliance with individualized service plan goals and objectives, overall adherence with campus expectations, and a demonstration of Elk Hill’s core values of respect, responsibility, hard work, and education.

Description of Programs and Activities

Formal Problem-Stating and Problem-Solving Group Meetings: Formal problem-stating and problem-solving group meetings are held each week day to assist youth in developing a greater sense of responsibility.

Group Responsibility: Every member of the group is expected to attend formal group meetings and group-calls. During these group meetings, staff members assume a facilitator role allowing the group to address needed issues. These meetings help bring focus to areas of needed attention and can empower individuals or the entire group to succeed.

Group Accountability: An underlying premise of the Values Program is that in all aspects of daily living, every person is in some way accountable to those around them. Those that handle these moments in a healthy and productive manner begin to empower themselves.

Group Calls/ Peer Support: The Values Program recognizes that a youth’s peer group is a valuable resource in encouraging a youth to behave in appropriate ways. The program allows for youth to utilize “group calls” which are problem solving sessions supervised by a staff member.

Time-Away: The support of the entire group to manage or resolve an issue is not necessary in every situation. The Values Program also supports the use of “time-away” so that a youth can essentially take time away from the immediate incident or stressor causing tension.   During time away, the youth is allowed to be apart from the other group members, but remains in staff supervision.

Staff Support: There will be times when a youth is feeling challenged and needs neither the support of the entire peer group nor time away. In these cases, a youth can utilize staff support to discuss troubling issues or to get assistance in problem solving.

Campus Chores and Seasonal Work Projects:To foster an investment in the facilities and an appreciation of hard work, each youth and his cottage peers will engage in various campus chores and long-term seasonal work projects.  The purpose of having youth participate in community service projects is to assist them in gaining a better understanding of the needs of their community, to better engage them in the being responsible for helping others, and to develop a greater sense of self-worth through aiding others.

Life Skills and Anger Management: Both Life Skills and Anger Management classes are held weekly and are facilitated by cottage staff, graduate-level social work interns, or team leaders.

Individual Therapy:  Elk Hill provides each youth with the opportunity to meet individually with an on-site licensed therapist. At the time of admission, the service planning team will assess the need for a youth to receive individual therapy and may include this in a youth’s service plan. If at the time of admission a youth is not deemed to need such services but later requests this service or demonstrates such a need, the team leader or service planning team will make arrangements for the youth to begin seeing a therapist.

Substance Abuse Group Therapy:At the time of Admission, records will be reviewed and if substance use/abuse issues are identified an on-site therapist will administer a standardized Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory (SASSI) to determine a youth’s need for receiving substance abuse therapy. If a youth is determined to need such a service, a closed-enrollment substance abuse group therapy course will be provided. The course is an eight-week intensive therapy group that explores a youth’s reasons for substance use and the “triggers” for use.

Student Employment Program:Elk Hill’s Student Employment Program allows youth to continue making progress on service plan objectives and educational instruction plans while providing opportunities to work for pay.  In this program, youth are paid fair wages and are encouraged to save their earnings in an Elk Hill savings account.  A youth must have earned his Achieving Phase (Phase ) prior to applying for a position in the Student Employment Program and must be in good standing within the program.  The goal of this part of a youth’s program is to help learn balance in managing multiple demands. Working in the employment program is further demonstration of adopting the values of hard work and responsibility. The challenge of maintaining progress in the program, passing all of one’s classes, and managing the responsibilities of the cottage and the employment program requires dedication, sacrifice, maturity, respect, responsibility, hard work, and education.

Aftercare/Transition meetings:  Since 1982, the Aftercare Program has helped facilitate the successful reintegration of graduates into their family, school, and community through advocacy and counseling services.All youth completing the program receive Aftercare support provided by Elk Hill’s Aftercare staff. Although some youth may request or receive more intensive, contracted aftercare, the Aftercare department maintains bi-monthly phone and on-site contact for the three months following a youth’s transition from Elk Hill Farm. Prior to completing the program, the youth will be expected to attend and engage in Aftercare transitional meetings with his peers in similar standings across campus. Usually these meetings will begin at the onset of obtaining one’s Mastery Phase and will continue up until the time of discharge. Frequently, the Aftercare Coordinator will attempt to include program graduates in group-meetings with youth in the transition phase or in facilitating on-campus meetings.

Family Conferences, Family Therapy, and Family Group Counseling:A youth’s family is an important resource to aiding a youth in his progress towards service plan completion. During family visitation, families are encouraged to spend time with the youth and staff. In addition to routine visitation hours, family conferences are offered twice a month. These family conferences are facilitated by the cottage team leader. Opportunities are provided to discuss at length a youth’s progress and struggles within the program, behaviors while at home and in the community prior to and during placement with Elk Hill, and how the values of respect, responsibility, hard work, and education are being mutually supported by the family and Elk Hill. In addition, Family Therapy conducted by a licensed clinician may be provided if needed. In addition to these services, family group counseling is offered once a month. During this group-time, the families of the youth placed at Elk Hill have the opportunity to meet collectively as a group to discuss current programming issues as well as assist one another in discussing parenting concerns, styles, and challenges. During these group meetings, the Love and Logic family curriculum is discussed and various topics are reviewed.

The Alfred L. Blake, Jr. School

One of the most important aspects of the Values Program is Education. A good education is indispensable and is something that a youth will carry well beyond the campus of Elk Hill. The hard work a youth puts forth in education is often an indicator of dedication to turning a troubled life around. To assist with the endeavor of gaining and valuing one's education, every youth that enters the Values Program is enrolled in the Alfred L. Blake School.  The Blake school, established in 1978, is fully accredited by Virginia's Department of Education (DOE) and has a separate accreditation through the Virginia Association of Independent Specialized Education Facilities (VAISEF).

The Blake school is staffed with licensed, experienced teachers and support personnel. These teachers provide high quality special and regular education services through a consultative model of instruction. Many teachers are endorsed to teach their specific content areas courses as well as coursework for students with learning disabilities and emotional disturbances.  

The curriculum at the Blake School is aligned with the Virginia Standards of Learning and considers individual student goals and interests. Instruction is provided year-round over five nine-week periods. Students have an opportunity to catch up on academic credit and reinforce basic skills. Students may earn up to eight credits within a school year and work towards standard, modified standard, and special education diplomas as well as general education diploma (GED) certificates. A youth can also expect to participate in pre, post, and ongoing assessments and have the opportunity to take PSAT and SAT testing.

While at the Blake School, students also participate in various aspects of the Education for Employment program. Education for Employment (EFE) is a career and technical education program designed for at risk students by the Career Connections Divsion of the Department of Education. This program provides students with career exploration, work experience, and cooperative education as needed. The primary focus is to develop skills for employment through a variety of opportunities in career and technical program areas such as business, work and family studies, health occupations, trade and industry, marketing education, agriculture, and technology education. The program correlates with the academic program in order to develop the necessary skills for future employment. Within the EFE program, youth have the opprotunity to particpate in the student employment program. They are paid for jobs completed on the campus of Elk Hill.

A youth receives support in the school through individual and group counseling opportunities. The youth will also have the opportunity to work with the head of school in developing an Individualized Instruction Plan (IIP) in addition to updating any Individualized Education Plan (IEP) in a manner that enhances a student’s self-advocacy. The school’s behavior support program emphasizes positive reinforcement by offering students options that may assist them in managing their own behaviors and incentives for successfully meeting school expectations.The Blake School also offers several enrichment opportunities that include a certified physical education program, organized sports league involvement, varied elective course offerings, life skills training, "Reading for Pleasure" programs, and monthly "group challenges" that encourage classes or peer groups to engage in healthy competition in achieving specific behavioral or academic goals.

Each youth entering the Values Program and enrolling in the Blake School will receive a student handbook that presents the school’s specific academic mission. The handbook includes definitions of a common language for teachers and students, academic and behavioral services, and example guidelines and forms a youth should expect to encounter.

Adventure Challenge

Adventure Challenge Mission:  Elk Hill provides to its youth quality adventure challenge programming to help build confidence and foster higher levels of self-esteem through an array of experiential learning activities and outdoor initiatives. With a program that consists of but is not limited to day-hikes, backpacking, whitewater rafting, whitewater canoeing, high ropes course initiatives, and conservation projects.

Day Hikes and BackpackingDay Hikes: Day Hikes are typically circuit hikes of varying length and difficulty done within the region, including local state forests, the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests as well as occasional use within the Shenandoah National Park. Day hikes are typically used to orient youth into the out-of-doors including low-impact land usage, environmental education topics as well as provide opportunities for skill development. A cottage team or trip leader will use day hikes to assess a youth’s or cottage’s hiking capabilities, strengths and areas of needed development.

Backpacking: The backpacking trips vary in duration from 3 days/2 nights to 5 days/4 nights while ranging in length anywhere from 15 to 30 miles. While these trips are meant to “challenge” the youth, an individual’s or group’s hiking ability is always a consideration in trip planning to determine the hike’s difficulty.

Whitewater Rafting/Canoeing:  At Elk Hill, youth have been challenging themselves in either whitewater canoeing or rafting for over 25 years. To ultimately increase the amount of fun and enjoyment as well as minimize risk, instruction is provided in incremental stages including classroom-style safety instruction, video demonstrations and discussion, dry-land skills demonstration, flat-water and moving water clinics, and challenge-by-choice whitewater opportunities.

Low and High Ropes Course Initiatives:  Originally built between 1982 and 1983 by Elk Hill’s present executive director with the assistance of colleagues and youth, Elk Hill’s ropes course makers and facilitators became part of a pioneering movement in using such outdoor initiatives in working with troubled youth. Since that time, the ropes course has been upgraded to meet today’s high and rigorous standards and is regularly inspected by the industry’s leaders in rope course design and development.

Conservation Projects:The nature of these projects vary but may include working with the James River Foundation, local parks and recreation departments, the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club, Save the Bay and a number of any other nature conservancies or recreational clubs that focus on outdoor and environmental education, conservation, and low-impact land usage.

Challenge-By-Choice: Although some of the activities that Elk Hill challenges its youth to engage in involve minimal to low risk of safety, other activities may have inherently higher risk. For those adventure challenge activities that may be considered as having a high risk of safety, Elk Hill adopts a “Challenge-by-Choice” design that allows its youth to ultimately participate only if the youth so chooses. This is not to say that staff will not “challenge” a youth to participate in any given initiative as some youth inevitably need encouragement to try new and challenging things. Not surprisingly, many youth who initially state a desire not to participate in these types of adventure challenge activities also fear challenging themselves in other areas of their program involving the possibility of failure—whether that is in the academic classroom, life skill development, or similar areas of personal growth. Trained and experienced facilitators are able to build upon a youth’s strengths in other areas of life or the program to appropriately challenge and engage a youth in becoming an active participant. Elk Hill successfully balances the need to challenge the youths in these initiatives while also allowing them the opportunity to opt-out of participating without detriment to their progress in the program.

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