Eckerd Youth Alternatives currently serves about 10,000 young people and their families annually through eight distinct program areas:
Private Academies: Eckerd Academy serves boys and girls privately referred by families, schools or other behavioral health or educational professionals. Residential services include fully accredited education in on-campus alternative schools; group and individual treatment; counseling; adventure-based activities; behavior management; social- and life-skills training family support and involvement; and transition planning and follow up. Campuses located at Brooksville, FL, Deer Lodge, TN and Suches, GA.
Early Intervention and Prevention Services: These intervention services, located in Florida, promote non-violent behavior, while encouraging academic success and healthy development in elementary and middle school children. “Hi-Five” program activities include a violence prevention curriculum, non-competitive games, team-building exercises and more. Other services include after-school programming, mentoring, teacher training and family outreach, literacy enhancement and summer activities; not all programs are in all locations.
Residential Therapeutic Programs: Services provided in a traditional group residential setting include group treatment, accredited education, individual and family counseling, behavior management, social- and life-skills training, family support and involvement, and transition planning. Four Florida programs serve delinquent boys ages 13-18.
Day Treatment Programs: The Eckerd Leadership Program in Ft. Pierce, FL, is a low-risk juvenile justice program emphasizing self-esteem building, family counseling, peer group process and education. Referrals are made through Florida’s juvenile justice system.
Community-Based Support Programs: Counselors provide guidance and support to youth to ensure their success in home, school and community, including mentoring, job placement and educational referrals. Florida ReEntry Programs help youth who have successfully completed an EYA or other juvenile justice residential program make a successful re-entry. EYA’s new Eckerd Community and Home Outreach Program (ECHO) located in Hammond, LA, is an intensive diversion and aftercare program that serves youth and their families living in Region 3 of Louisiana, commonly called the Florida Parishes.
Alternative Day Schools: Two alternative day schools, Cascade Academy in Berlin, NH, and Diamond Pond Academy in Stewartstown, NH, serve at-risk middle and high school students who have not succeeded in a traditional classroom. Referrals are made through public schools.