Services
Clinical
Tannerhill’s clinical team is responsible for developing an individualized treatment plan for each child. Each plan includes, clinical, behavioral, medical, educational and family preservation goals to ensure that all of the needs for each child are met. Clinicians provide children with individual and group counseling. In addition, family work, parent counseling, and family therapy are offered to reunifying families and to pre-adoptive families. The clinical team works closely with program directors and group home staff in order to ensure that children are provided with effective treatment within each home throughout their day.
The agency values having siblings placed together in Tannerhill group homes. Brothers typically live in the same home. While brothers and sisters live in different homes, Tannerhill guarantees that these children share weekends and special activities, including holidays and birthdays. When siblings live at Tannerhill, sibling counseling is also provided. This allows for the unique opportunity to address issues of shared loss, fear and anger.
Behavioral
Tannerhill is a trend setter in its use of a Positive Behavior Support (PBS) treatment model.
Children living in Tannerhill homes have experienced extensive trauma as a result of severe physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect and/or separation from their parents. The impact of this unpredictability, lack of safety and trauma has resulted in children having learned to cope with negative and painful feelings in maladaptive ways. Children from these backgrounds often display significant behavioral challenges, including difficulty developing healthy relationships with adults and peers, oppositional behavior, and verbal, physical and/or sexual acting out.
Child care staff members meet the challenges of managing the children’s fears, relationship difficulties and behavioral challenges in a therapeutic manner, while allowing them to settle into a predictable daily life of school, play, sports, friends and consistent adults. The goal is to develop new skills that will allow children to replace dysfunctional patterns with healthy ones.
The PBS treatment model includes six major components. Foremost in the model is the requirement that all staff members develop and foster a non-contingent positive relationship with each child. The goal is to ensure for each child that he/she is genuinely cared for and cared about regardless of the challenges he or she presents.
Structure is used to ensure that adults and children know in advance each responsibility and activity and the positive behaviors expected for that activity. This allows children and adults to focus on what children should be doing, rather than what they should not be doing.
In the PBS model, children are provided with choices whenever possible. Choices allow children to develop, for the first time, a sense of control over their lives. Responsibilities must be met before obtaining privileges and incentives. These positive contingencies ensure that children learn the value of consistently meeting responsibilities. Staff members use positive language to encourage children to meet their responsibilities and to make good choices.
Finally, as an alternative to punishment, Tannerhill uses a restoration/problem solving approach for more serious problem behaviors. When a very challenging behavior occurs, children are expected to make amends to people and property, i.e., to restore the environment and injured relationships, to develop more effective coping skills, to practice positive ways of responding to similar problems in the future and to develop new skills to avoid future problems.
Education
Tannerhill places great importance on ensuring that each child is provided with the fullest and least restrictive educational opportunity available. Most children at Tannerhill attend public schools. Children living at Tannerhill, who attend public school, may participate fully in regular education classes or may have an Individualized Educational Plan to address their special educational needs. On rare occasion, the public school system finds it necessary to enroll a Tannerhill child in a specialized school that can better meet his/her academic and behavioral challenges.
Clinicians work with Educational Advocates from the RI Department of Education to ensure that all aspects of a child’s special education needs are fully addressed. Program Directors and group home staff work with children, teachers and school staff to maintain open lines of communication. Tannerhill places a high value on ensuring that each child reaches his/her full learning potential. Emphasis is placed upon each child completing all schoolwork to the best of his/her ability, improving areas of academic delays, and developing a value for learning.
Family Preservation/Aftercare
Family Preservation/Aftercare Specialists provide support to families from the child’s arrival at Tannerhill through and beyond the child’s return home, in order to stabilize the family, to assist them in overcoming their challenges and to work together with the family toward the goal of reunification. Services include support in stabilizing the home environment, developing and strengthening the family’s skills, providing emergency on call support and crisis intervention, and advocacy.
Respite Care
Tannerhill also provides respite care for children who need short-term care and/or a break from family life. At a minimum, respite care consists of a full or partial day visit for a child, preferably at his/her previous Tannerhill home. When beds are available, arrangements can be made for overnight and weekend stays. Through respite care, Tannerhill provides families with the opportunity to regroup following a challenging time with a child.