Program Overview
New Directions for Families (NDF) is a comprehensive residential program that has the capacity to simultaneously serve 16 women and their dependent children. The children in this program range in age from infants through 12 years. The full array of healthcare, childcare, and vocational services is available on-site, in addition to integrated treatment of alcohol and drug dependence, mental illness, and trauma in women and their children. NDF can also address the relationship between substance abuse and criminal behavior as appropriate.
The primary goals of the New Directions for Families program are as follows:
• To provide women with the motivation and skills they need to remain abstinent from alcohol and other drugs and to stabilize their mental health;
• To develop positive parent-child relationships, thus preventing the cycle of substance abuse and violence in families;
• To improve the health and well-being of the children; and
• To promote the self-sufficiency of families through linkage with education, employment, vocational training, and permanent drug-free housing.
Program Services
Women receive services including parenting skills development, substance abuse treatment groups, mental health treatment, treatment for trauma issues, primary health care, health education, literacy assistance, GED preparation, budgeting and life-skills training, job acquisition and retention, family therapy, relapse prevention, and linkage to a full range of community resources including housing. The program also provides comprehensive services for children ages 0-12, including on-site child care and early childhood development services, developmental assessment and referral for appropriate services, tutoring, mental health groups, family bonding and parental attachment activities, and linkages with community resources that help children.
Admission Criteria
• Women must have serious substance abuse and mental health problems and agree to participate in the entire program, including the requirements to be employed during the final months of treatment;
• Women must be pregnant, have custody, or be seeking to regain custody of children aged birth to twelve.
People Most Able to Benefit from this Program
• Women who are unable to parent their children due to severe substance abuse;
• Women who have custody or a desire to regain custody of their children;
• Women who lack stable, drug-free permanent housing for themselves and their children;
• Women who are unlikely to succeed in outpatient treatment due to an extremely unsupportive home environment including violence, and drug use;
• Women who lack education and vocational skills as a means of obtaining and maintaining employment; and
• Women who have been victims of violence and abuse and have mental health problems.
Expected Length of Stay
Four months in residence followed by four months of outpatient treatment and case management services.
Hours of Operation
24 hours per day throughout the year.
Location
Littleton, Colorado
For referral or admission to any of our programs, please contact the Information and Access Team 303.657.3700 or [email protected]. Phone lines are open Monday through Saturday 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
