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The Mission of Community Education Centers Alternative Youth Adventures programs in South Carolina is, “To provide a healthy, protective environment within which troubled youth will have the opportunity to achieve their full potential through the use of treatment and education services that focus on positive change. We provide our program participants with the knowledge and skills necessary to lead a productive lifestyle prior to reintegration into their families and the community.” The AYA philosophy is to treat program participants in a humane and dignified fashion, involving both the clients and their families in the treatment process. All of our employees are trained to act as role models, encouraging youth to learn appropriate social behaviors. AYA staff stresses openness, teamwork, empowerment, responsibility, performance, positive youth development, and the shared experience of excellence.
The on-site school, residential units, and other program components have been designed to resemble a community with an exemplary school and stable family home. We see role modeling as a critically important treatment intervention. Accordingly, we regard our clinical staff as the keystone of our programs and services. We follow sound clinical practices scientifically proven to be effective. We are careful to staff our facilities with capable, highly skilled, experienced, and well-trained employees, all of whom, regardless of formal training, are committed to creating and maintaining an environment that positively shapes attitudes and an outlook on life. Staff members, both professional and paraprofessional, are trained to recognize antisocial thinking, feeling, and acting and are able to demonstrate and reinforce concrete alternatives. By promoting pro-social attitudes and behaviors, and progressively higher levels of functioning, we achieve positive outcomes not only for troubled adolescents but also for their families and the surrounding community. We believe that the building blocks for treatment services are respect, patience, understanding, empathy, knowledge, open-mindedness, and honesty.
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