By Mary McPhail Gray
NVW Board Chair

“He really needs to be in a Residential Treatment Center (RTC) for intensive support,” stated the clinician.  “But where can we get him accepted?”

This conversation has happened 12 times over the past year about youth clients that Nonviolence Works is serving.   And only 2 were accepted into an RTC—with discouraging results.

One of the reasons for poor outcomes is that the youth who are referred are in need of intensive support, and this includes family therapy.  With no RTC closer than Albuquerque—and only three in the state of New Mexico—the needs are great, the waiting lists are long, and the barriers to family involvement are huge.

As heavy narcotics availability has increased in Northern New Mexico, so has their use by our youth. With the youth Drug Court Program being dissolved for lack of funding, Taos has no programming for substance abuse cases that involve our youth. A number of youth seen at NVW have Dual Diagnosis (which means that they have substance abuse mixed with another disorder). Conduct Disorders and Oppositional Defiant Disorders are also frequently seen. [Read more…] about But Where Can They Go?