Overview | Therapeutic & Educational Services | Developmental Child Care | Academic Collaboration

Counseling

The foundation of BETA Center's effort is therapeutic intervention provided in individual, group and family counseling sessions by Masters level therapists. We support the mental health of 95 students each semester through staff counselors and a Masters level internship program. Sadly, many young women enrolling in this program bring with them a history of family dysfunction, abuse and psychological trauma. Teens often suffer from fear, guilt, low self-esteem and hopelessness. These issues must be resolved before our teens can get their lives back on track and, for those who choose to parent, to successfully bond with their child.

By helping young women resolve past emotional damage, our program gives them an opportunity for success that they have never experienced before. Counseling sessions are augmented by a creative arts curriculum, used to break down the barriers to individual expression. These services are used to address specific issues as well as implementing motivation and empowerment strategies.

Case managers/adolescent specialists are available on-demand to provide daily support to help students with their basic needs and crisis situations. BETA Center helps students deal with their frustrations about school, the changes they are undergoing and connects them to additional community resources.

Life Skills Education and More

During the 4th period every day Personal Enrichment classes build the self-esteem and life-skills that are key to the overall success of these young women. Anger management, health education, positive self-image, job interviewing skills and much more are offered. Creative Art classes effectively resolve the teen's resistance through these safe, positive experiences of expression. Through drawing, crafts, photography and other visual arts, music, dance and student performances our students are finding a vehicle to express their feelings.

Tutoring and mentoring by staff and volunteers assist students in both their academic and personal lives. This one-to-one relationship provides the nurturing often lacking in the life of these adolescents. The After-School Program provides students with remedial and make-up educational opportunities and personal enrichment through the Creative Arts club with childcare provided.

School-to-Work allows some students to work on campus for part of the school day. This work experience provides motivations for vocational and career planning. Post high school planning is part of a successful transition into self-sufficiency. Students will be exposed to advanced training and college opportunities, dual enrollment with community colleges, universities and vocational schools is offered.

Parent Education

Prenatal education and attachment builds the skills to form a nurturing attachment to your baby during pregnancy. Teen pregnancies are at high risk for premature delivery, low birth weight and developmental delays. At BETA we teach young women how to take care of themselves, including how to eat right, maintain prenatal care and build a relationship with their unborn child. Lamaze instructors prepare these young women for childbirth. With these efforts, our clients are more likely to deliver full term babies with normal birth weights, giving their children a better start.

Parenting classes provide a formal setting to teach healthy parenting skills. Parent education and support is woven into every aspect of BETA Center's Pregnant and Parenting Teen Program. Whether it is a tip on feeding or a pat on the back for an observed positive parent child interaction, parenting support happens all day.

Parent/Child Lab is an experiential session in a playroom setting for mothers and their babies to promote parent/child attachment, teach positive parenting skills and provide one-on-one support to these new mothers. We use fun daily parent/child activities from BETA's Building Baby's Brain Power book. Click here for details.