The Jefferson School R.I.V.E.R.S. Program Description

Recognizing
Internalizing
Verbalizing
Empathizing
Respecting
Socialization

While engaged in the treatment provided through the R.I.V.E.R.S. Program at The Jefferson School, a program for youth with sexual offending behaviors, it is deemed important for residents to be able to discuss any sexual abuse that may have happened in their life. A Clinical Milieu Manager/Therapist, Psychiatrist, Nurse, Residential Counselors, and peers are made available to help in dealing with sexual abuse from both perspectives; being abused and/or sexually offending others. Residents (who are not required to be adjudicated) live in one of two secure houses, Potomac House or Shenandoah House, with no more than eight peers. Secure class rooms are provided for residents here at the Jefferson school Monday – Friday from 8:30 am - 2:45 pm where Teachers and Educational Teaching Assistants are provided to support the clinical components of the program and to facilitate resident’s educational programming. It is our goal to help residents, and their families, understand how any sexual abuse that they may have suffered has impacted upon the way they view their world today. We recognize that sexual abuse can affect how residents feel about themselves and others, which sometimes can contribute to acting out behaviors due to emotional and/or cognitive distress. The aim of the program is for residents to grow and acquire skills necessary to facilitate a successful re-transition into society through a therapeutic process that is fostered by an ecological flow from admission to discharge. With this in mind, a river is the best way to symbolize the collaborative vision of family, residential treatment, and the greater community ever moving forward, working together, and merging in a positive direction.

It is the vision of the R.I.V.E.R.S. Program that:

• We assist residents in RECOGNIZING any and all issues that may be obstacles for their growth and development.

• We assist residents with INTERNALIZING positive control and power, as opposed to abusing others in order to recover power lost due to abuse they have suffered, sexual or otherwise.

• Through group, individual, family, and milieu therapies, we provide a safe positive space for residents to VERBALIZE their thoughts and feelings on the road to recovery.

• Residents learn and build EMPATHY, which will help them become more responsible for their actions and understand how their actions can affect others.

• Residents learn RESPECT for themselves and grow to love themselves, in addition to learning the importance of respect for boundaries with others.

• Residents will learn to develop the appropriate SOCIAL SKILLS to integrate or reintegrate into their communities successfully and live responsibly.