Interested in working with us? Click on the available positions below for a description.
Skyline Camp and Retreat Center
Don Bosco Hall sent twenty-five (25) 4th and 5th graders to summer camp. The activity was made possible through the financial support of the Black McDonalds Owners of Southeast Michigan and Don Bosco Hall Board Members, Melvin Jones, Deborah Virgiles and Michael Layne. Michael Layne had the vision of sending kids to camp as a new program for Don Bosco Hall almost six years several years ago. As a result of this leadership, the number of kids that receive funding support to go to camp has quadrupled. Don Bosco Hall provides direct leadership in the selection of attendees and the organization of their attendance. The summer camp program is a full week of outdoor activities, field games, drumming, art and crafts, nature hikes, swimming and canoeing. The campers learn responsibility, develop self confidence and self-awareness, build lifelong friendships and practice the value of teamwork and conflict resolution. The children had a great summer camp experience.
Don Bosco Hall Male Leadership Academy
Day Treatment Overview
Purpose:
Don Bosco Hall in conjunction with the BKB Academy runs an intensive community-based supervision program. The Leadership Academy provides comprehensive education and treatment services to (50) adjudicated male youth between the ages of 12-17 years. The youth that are eligible for this program are between middle school and high school eligible students. The youth come from the Wayne County Juvenile Justice CMO system. The youth in the program have been assessed to be high risk community-based status youth.
Profile of Youth Served:
The majority of youth in this program have had prior histories of poor academic performance and social conduct issues within school settings. All of the youth have committed juvenile violations that have placed them under the supervision of the Wayne County Juvenile Justice System. The overall purpose of the Leadership Academy is to provide the youth with an intensive educational, social development and leadership program that will address their academic and behavioral deficiencies. The Leadership Academy also provides these young men with supportive, highly structured and therapeutic support activities that will promote positive changes and corrections to their anti-social behaviors. The program serves youth on probation youth, committed youth and post-released youth.
Goal:
The overall goal of the Don Bosco Hall Male Leadership Academy is to provide community-based educational, leadership and support services to male delinquent youth and their families that will empower and strengthen the youth's ability to discontinue delinquent behavior.
Domains of Leadership Development:
Family
School
Community
Description of Core Services:
The Don Bosco Hall Male Leadership Academy will provide the youth with a variety of educational and support services. The youth will attend an intensive educational program during school days. The school operates between the hours of 8:00am - 3:30pm. The BKB Academy will provide the educational instruction. At the completion of the school day, the youth will participate in a variety of after-school recreational, cultural arts, career development, leadership training and tutorial services. The youth will be transported to and from the Center Monday - Saturday. The Academy will also provide community monitoring services for the youth during the evening hours and Sunday. Listed below are the types of services that will be provided within the Center.
Educational Instruction
Crisis Management
After School Services
Group Counseling
Family Counseling
Career Planning
Community Service Projects
Psychotherapeutic Services
Community Monitoring
Random Drug Screening/Counseling
Pre-Employment Training
Meals
Reintegration/Follow Up Services
Referral Services
At the completion of the school day, the youth will participate in an evening program.
The evening program activities will be conducted at the Don Bosco Hall Community Resource Center. The program youth will receive a light snack at the completion of the day program. The evening program will be conducted between the hours of 3pm - 7pm. After 7pm, the youth will then be transported to their place of residences (community home or residential treatment program). The youth will be monitored the remaining of the evening hours through community monitors.
The services within the evening program will consist of the youth enrolling in the various activities that are offered through the Don Bosco Hall Community Resource Center.
Don Bosco Hall's Eagle Program
The DBH Eagle Program is an intensive, short-term intervention program for adjudicated male-youth. The goal of the program is to assist young men and their families in successfully returning the youth home, if possible, or securing the most appropriate setting upon program completion. Residents of the program progress through a four-level system (Freshman to Senior) by demonstrating appropriate behavior, participating in therapy, and progressing through their Care Pathway. The level system in the Eagle Program is designed to assist residents in improving positive behavior, leadership skills, and responsibility.
The Level system is based on behavioral therapy and behavioral change. The program is designed to provide positive reinforcement for responsible behavior and natural consequences for negative behavior. Behavior management is primarily provided through positive reinforcement, programmatic consequence, and peer and staff confrontation and in severe cases, non-violent physical management. Preparing for the next placement outside of the Eagle Program depends entirely upon the youth. It is advised that youth recognize very early in their stay with us that he will be leaving. Everything that is done should be geared toward reaching that goal.
Over a 3-4 month period, we work with our program residents to help eliminate risky behavior patterns, and help them to develop their positive leadership skills. While in the Eagle Program, youth are encouraged to identify their main struggles and work to build new ways of interacting with others. This is accomplished through a positive leadership development model using educational, social and cultural components together with traditional therapy to promote leadership skills with the youth. This cutting edge leadership intervention model will help transform youth that have traditionally been viewed as deficits in their communities into positive assets in their homes, schools and neighborhoods. Upon graduating from the Eagle Program, youth may be referred to the DBH Male Leadership Academy (MLA) to continue their educational goals. From the Male Leadership Academy, youth will continue making progress toward graduation while residing at home.
"We are very excited to have the opportunity to work with young men from the community to help make positive changes in their lives. Our goal is to help eliminate the risk factors that led them to this point and to help them learn to utilize their strengths to become positive leaders in our community." - Charles D. Small
Mandatory components at all levels are:
To monitor a young man's progress and plan for his discharge, it is appropriate to observe the way one lives/treats others, problem solves, demonstrates leadership, and supports one another. Your young man should note throughout his stay in the Eagle Program that there are rewards and consequences he will choose to earn by the choices he makes. This lesson applies in life outside placement
Family participation in treatment also.
Negative drug screens
Successful/healthy visits
We are very excited to have the opportunity to work with young men from the community to help make positive changes in their lives. Our goal is to help eliminate the risk factors that led them to this point and to help them learn to utilize their strengths to become positive leaders in our community.
Don Bosco Hall - Eagle Program
Compliance with DBH rules
Participation in therapy
The trend within the County of Wayne has been to lessen the number of youth that are going into Residential Treatment Programs. There are increasingly more programs being designed and implemented to modify youth behavior while keeping youth within their home environment. Youth are now and more frequently being placed onto tethers, so that their whereabouts in terms of being in school or at home is traceable. There are Wrap around Programs where social workers are involved and checking in with the teens in both their home and school environments and there are more teens involved in Day Treatment programs, such as Don Bosco Hall’s Male Leadership Academy and Don Bosco Hall’s Eagle program. These programs provide youth with concentrated support with their education and social behavior. Although, we are finding that for some of these kids these new trends in programming are doable and successful, there are still a significant population of youth who are simply at a higher risk of entering into the juvenile justice system and then the criminal justice system . In these cases Don Bosco Hall‘s Residential Treatment Program is still the best and most viable solution for help and change.
Angela Lenear
Director of Juvenile Justice Programs and Services