Mount
Saint John offers child-centered and family-focused services to adolescent
boys who, for various reasons, need to live outside their home communities.
Our Step Up! program model gives the young men at Mount Saint John the chance
to learn skills that will equip them to succeed in their placement with us,
in their communities and in life. The program is based on the reseach-based
Pycho-Educational Treatment Model (PEM) of Fr. Flanagan's Girls and Boys Town
(GBT). The staff of the National Resource and Training Center from the GBT
Home Campus in Nebraska have supported us to achieve and maintain excellence
in the delivery of this program for our boys, their families and the wider
Connecticut community. 
The MSJ core program consists of comprehensive residential, clinical and educational
services to adolescent boys in four residential units on MSJ's Deep River
campus. The Step Up! program promotes the development of pro-social skills
and the achievement of relational, behavioral and other treatment goals to
prepare the boys for successful return to their communities following placement
at Mount Saint John. We believe that the use of the Step Up! model produces
effective outcomes for youth and families in reducing truancy, substance abuse,
school-related problems and juvenile and adult arrests.
Through
an integrated model of treatment services, the staff at Mount Saint John provide
an individualized, goal directed treatment for each of the boys. Diagnostic,
counseling and behavior management services and individualized education programs
are provided within a residential setting. Clincial excellence is combined
with a nurturing, home-like atmosphere. Each boy's treatment program is reviewed
on a monthly basis.
As part of the model, MSJ provides family programs and transitional services for the boys in our care. Additionally, the Board of Directors has committed to an aggressive new program development initiative, using the well-established and research-based Boys Town Model, that will "take MSJ into the community" with programs for youth and their families.
Following is a list of the six program/service areas. Click on the link to go to a page with more information about that area.