Bethesda Day Treatment

Dominic Herbst, President
P.O. Box 210
West Milton, PA 17886


(570) 568-2373           Fax: (570) 568-1134
staff@bfsf.org

Bethesda Family Services Foundation seeks to provide comprehensive individual and family centered treatment to pre-adjudicated and adjudicated juveniles. The program serves youth between 10-18 years old who have committed status and delinquent offenses. Bethesda offers a unique blend of treatment and intervention for the whole family. The program seeks to provide values oriented treatment to youth that prepares them for re-entry into mainstream society.

This program provides comprehensive services designed to meet every type of need including: licensed after school and evening day treatment, individualized alternative education, family-systems counseling, residential group home, licensed substance abuse counseling and licensed short-term foster care. Clients receive at least six months of treatment which may include as much as 55 hours of intervention each week. Home visits and Bethesda's Family Systems counseling are part of each client's weekly schedule. Parent meetings and training workshops are held monthly. Case managers individually tailor the program to meet the client's needs for individual, group or family based treatment modalities.

Bethesda's treatment programs utilize a strategic two-system approach which is effective in bringing all agency staff into harmony by uniting them toward achieving the same treatment goals for each individual client. Bethesda's Normative Systems approach is established to structure and control the behavior of the youth in the program. Bethesda's Family Systems Counseling is cognitive-behavioral therapy which addresses the root causes of the youth's behavior by resolving the relational conflict within his/her family. Both systems of treatment have been successful in helping the Bethesda program to fulfill its mission of "healing America's families." Preliminary studies show significantly reduced recidivism rates for participants in this program. In addition, significant positive changes in client attitudes, behaviors, self awareness and personal relationships have been shown. Other studies are currently underway. Bethesda's methods of intervention are so powerful and compelling that the program has been featured four times on national television documentaries, including the 1996 Father's Day special called Bad Dads produced by Arnold Shapiro & hosted by George Foreman.

Implementation Costs:

Bethesda's service components vary widely. For day treatment, a 1:7 staff to client ratio is recommended. Every direct care staff member is considered to be a clinician. However, because of Bethesda's intensive training and strategic systems approach, no specific credentials are prerequisites. To implement Bethesda's methods in a residential or community-based program, exclusive training from Bethesda's national team is required. An ongoing and supportive relationship between trainers and trainees is incorporated into the strategy for implementation. Trainees receive a specified number of hours, ongoing technical assistance via telephone, videotaped training, and systems "blueprint" manuals. All of this is provided for a monthly fee based on the program's budget.

Training Costs:

Costs of ongoing training are incorporated into the monthly fee. However, a total of two full training visits and one certification visit are required in the first year. The travel costs and time of trainers are paid by the trainees (approximately $3500 each depending on location) for the training visits. An initial certification visit is free. There is no maximum number of participants, but only staff of those agencies contracted with Bethesda may participate (unless prior agreements are made). All manuals and videotapes are provided as part of the monthly fee. Ongoing technical assistance and support are also included.