Yes, Wayside is one of only five providers in the state that offers family treatment. Women can enter treatment pregnant and with children up to age 11. Women can also be working towards reunification while in treatment and receive support to have custody re-established. Learn more about our Family Treatment Center.
Children’s Mental Health Services
Supporting mothers and children through Wayside’s two-generation approach.
A mother’s substance use can affect the wellbeing of her children. Kids may develop physical, academic, social or emotional concerns. Fortunately, there is a lot we can do to help.
children’s therapy
Wayside offers culturally responsive assessments and therapy sessions that are individually tailored and age-appropriate to address the child’s mental health and developmental needs while their mother recovers in our care. This two-generation approach is most effective for the child to reduce secondary trauma and the chances of developing a substance use disorder in the future.
At our Family Treatment Center, we will coordinate childcare off-site at a licensed facility while you attend programming. We will also assist clients enrolled in our our outpatient services in coordinating off-site childcare for times when you may need to attend program groups or sessions.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Wayside has begun providing children’s programming onsite during the day. Because our Family Treatment Center is a long-term residential setting, to reduce the risk of exposure it is safer for children to remain on-site rather than go to school or daycare. Children receive age-appropriate care, including support for distance learning, from experienced early childhood educators while mothers attend therapy groups and sessions. Each family can choose whether a child attends childcare or school offsite or receive support onsite from Family Treatment staff.
FAQs
Yes, we provide childcare during the day while mothers are in programming at our Family Residential Treatment Center. Due to COVID-19 safety precautions, we currently offer on-site Children’s Groups. We will be transitioning back to daycares in the community when COVID-19 precautions allow it. At our outpatient Wellness Center, we assist in coordinating off-site childcare for times when mothers need to attend program groups or sessions.
Wayside welcomes visits from family, friends, children and other loved ones during residential treatment. Learn more at Visiting Wayside.
MORE RESOURCES
Learn more about Wayside’s Family Treatment program
Read about family therapy at Wayside
When Casey was a toddler, he lived with his mom at Wayside Family Treatment. “I didn’t know my mom struggled with addiction until I was a junior in high school,” he said. “Life went on like normal. I think that speaks volumes about the program.” After Family Treatment, Casey and his mom moved to Wayside Supportive Housing. “I really loved growing up there,” he remembered. “Playing with the other kids, riding our scooters, rollerblading in the parking lot. Some of my favorite childhood memories happened there.“
Children’s therapy program at Wayside
Children of Wayside clients have an opportunity to connect with a therapist and work on any emotional, behavioral and social strengths and challenges. Children’s mental health services help the child work on their ability to control certain behavioral responses and explore the reasoning behind those responses. They will discover new ways to communicate their needs in a healthy way, and learn appropriate conflict resolution skills. All work is done through play therapy, which incorporates interactive play, creative coloring and painting projects and other fun and age-appropriate activities.
Child assessment program
An assessment of each child helps to identify his or her strengths and challenges, and to gather more information about their behavioral and emotional responses, academic performance, social interactions with peers and adults, memory, and motor skill development. This information can reveal their unique strengths in adjusting to new emotions and environments, and help inform changes to accommodate a child’s learning style. The customized children’s mental health services at Wayside can help a child make great strides towards a brighter future.