Inside Our Life Skills Program
Riverside Life Skills Centers are supportive, therapeutic day programs for adolescents, ages 12-18, who are experiencing significant emotional difficulties, a psychiatric diagnosis, or disruptions in their home, school, and community. Teens learn to identify and understand their behavior patterns in a highly structured clinical environment involving therapeutic groups and activities. They develop effective coping methods, gain insight into their mental health challenges, improve their self-esteem, and increase the social skills needed to effectively integrate into their school and home communities.
Maia’s Story: Riverside Life Skills Centers
We offer a very small youth-to-staff ratio and focus on fostering a sense of community and well-being that is essential for a teen’s recovery. Additionally, we provide strong clinical, family, and academic supports.
Riverside Life Skills Centers accommodate teens with significant mental health issues and learning challenges, including but not limited to:
- Anxiety and depressive disorders
- Attention and learning disorders
- Mood and psychotic disorders
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Co-occurring disorders
Clinical Supports
The Life Skills Centers incorporate a group and milieu therapy model to help teens process and manage life’s challenges. Therapeutic groups are developed and facilitated via the following models:
- Dialectical behavioral therapy
- Cognitive behavioral therapy
- Anger management
- Expressive therapies
- Social skills and relationship-building
- Health and wellness education
Every adolescent at the Life Skills Center is assigned a primary clinician to help organize their goals and treatment. The clinician also connects the teen with community services and additional resources to meet their specific needs. Together with the teen and their family, the clinician develops an action plan outlining the course of treatment and establishing goals to accomplish with the team’s support.
Family Supports
All family members are encouraged to attend and participate in family meetings, as family unity is essential to a teen’s success. Meetings focus on helping the family understand and participate in their child’s treatment goals, build communication and support, and develop stronger family relationships.
School Supports
Many of our teens have struggled to manage school’s academic and social stressors. We help youth identify school-related triggers and develop healthy coping skills to manage these demands in a supportive therapeutic environment.
To provide care continuity, our clinical staff works closely with a broad range of community partners, including outside therapists, the Department of Mental Health, the Department of Children and Families, and local schools. Riverside also has a continuum of services to support youth and families, including our In-Home Therapy services, Community Service Agency, Riverside School, and Outpatient Therapy.
For Psychosis or Clinical High Risk
In addition to the clinical supports offered in all three Riverside Life Skills Centers, our Somerville center serves youth with psychosis or clinical high-risk. The Learning and Readiness for Resilient Youth (LARRY ) framework, named for Larry Seidman, PhD., a pioneer in research on cognition, neuroscience, and major mental health challenges, addresses conditions including but not limited to schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. This approach helps youth with these distressing but treatable diagnoses understand and manage their symptoms while learning new skills to successfully navigate their school and daily routines. Life Skills Center at Somerville: LARRY is the first day program in the country to integrate this innovative approach to youth services.
