| New
Perspectives
- Feb, 1993 Issue #20 |
HOME ON THE RANGE
Sentinel Butte, North Dakota
Jeff Walters, Admissions Administrator
701-872-3745
Home On The Range
is a working ranch with several supplemental programs for
children with special needs such as Children of Alcoholics,
Human Sexuality Education, Eating Disorders Education etc.
They enroll boys and girls between the ages of 10 and 18,
with 70 being their optimum number. It was founded in 1950,
is a nonprofit corporation under the auspices of the Catholic
Diocese of Bismarck, and is planning an expansion into
Eastern Montana for a girl's facility.
The emphasis for
most of its existence has been on the structure of ranch type
responsibilities for the young people where they can learn
appropriate behavior. They work closely with, and have adopted
much of the behavior management used by Boys Town
in Nebraska. "Research conducted at Boys Town
indicates that a large portion of the inappropriate behavior
demonstrated by youth is a result of not knowing the appropriate
behavior or skill to be used in that specific social situation.
The primary goal of the system is to replace inappropriate
skills by teaching and reinforcing the use of more socially
acceptable behavior. Research indicates that this type of
teaching method also is effective in promoting better relationships
between residents and staff, as a primary focus is on reinforcing
and praising the use of appropriate skills. Staff using the
teaching method are expected to reinforce appropriate behavior
minimally four times as often as inappropriate behavior is
consequented."
In addition to the
home type environment found on the ranch, they offer "a variety
of therapy programs and treatment modalities for the youth
in placement.... Treatment programs include victims of abuse
therapy, drug and alcohol addiction aftercare programs (COA,
AA and Step Group), sexual offender treatment, independent
living program, human sexuality education, anger management,
social skill development, spiritual development, monthly Strengthening
Family Workshops, education programming and eating disorders
education."
Copyright
© 1993, Woodbury Reports, Inc. (This article may be reproduced
without prior approval if the copyright notice and proper
publication and author attribution accompanies the copy.)
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