New Acres Home For Children -- A residential placement resource for foster children, juvenile offenders and homeless youth. The purpose of NAHFC is to provide a safe, family-like environment for kids, in which they will have the opportunity to thrive physically, mentally, and intellectually through a program designed to help them to reconcile their past experiences with their present circumstances and their future potentials.

Physical Fitness Individual Therapy Group Counseling Mentors Community Volunteering Bible Study Independent Living Skills Training In order to fulfill it’s purposes, NAHFC implements a rigid and structured program. Our program focuses on the following key interventions: New Acres Home For Children

Besides the obvious physical benefits of regular exercise, physical activity is also very valuable in promoting sound mental health. Regular exercise has been proven to be at least as effective as traditional therapy in the treatment of depression and anxiety. Exercise has also been shown to promote a more positive mood and increase self-esteem, as well as, help kids to fall asleep more quickly, sleep longer, and have a more restful sleep. Exercise also helps kids to recover more quickly from psychological stressors. All of these benefits of consistent exercise will result in improved life satisfaction and improved academic performance for troubled teens. Physical Fitness New Acres Home For Children

Individual Therapy The overall goal of individual therapy is to create an environment in which a youth can explore the feelings or issues that contribute to their poor decision-making or misbehavior, and to address any current trauma. Individual therapy provides a safe setting, as well as, the undivided attention of a person who is trained to listen. In this setting, a teen feels understood and accepted, and is more likely to talk openly and listen to suggestions. New Acres Home For Children

Volunteering The satisfaction and pride that comes from helping others are important reasons to volunteer. However, volunteering also teaches a child a sense of responsibility, the benefits of sacrifice, and how to use spare time wisely. Working in community service can also teach acceptance by bringing teens in touch with people of different backgrounds, classes, ages, and ethnicities. When teens volunteer in the community, they develop personality and character while also gaining kindness, compassion and empathy for the less fortunate in society. As they volunteer, kids get to interact with other volunteers and the needy people in the communities. This helps them learn to interact with different kinds of people, form healthy relationships, and better appreciate the privileges in their own lives. New Acres Home For Children

Volunteering …continued Through their volunteer work, teens acquire skills which are essential in the job market, such as, learning to work as a member of a team, taking on leadership roles, and improving their interpersonal and communication skills. Volunteering also exposes kids to different careers helping them to decide on their future career goals and provides them with skills and knowledge that they can apply to their career work. Also, when teens are doing volunteer work, they are surrounded by good people and are far away from negative peer pressure. New Acres Home For Children

Group Therapy Group therapy provides a setting in which teens can learn from and support each other in order to get help with specific life problems. Since most teens enjoy interacting with their peers, this can be a very effective way for a teen to learn about their problems and about healthy solutions to their problems, while helping their peers to do the same. Group therapy can be a profound and powerful experience. It can help teens to overcome personal difficulties that prevent them from achieving satisfaction and fulfillment from their lives. The group also provides a forum to explore feelings about the other people in the group in a safe and controlled setting, and then to think about how these feelings are related to one’s own life outside of the group. New Acres Home For Children

Group Therapy ….continued Group therapy helps teens to realize that they are not alone in their struggles. Knowing that some of their peers have also been abused or neglected, or have a drug addiction or low self-esteem, helps the members of the group to realize that they are not odd or weird because they have problems. Furthermore, most teenagers are more likely to take advice from a peer than from an adult. A member of the staff team can tell a teen that he should cut back on his drug use because he is putting his life in danger, but he is more likely to take that advice if it comes from a peer whom he feels can relate to him. New Acres Home For Children

Group Therapy ….continued Group therapy can be helpful in many other ways. Group therapy helps teens to improve social skills, teaches new ways to cope with problems, and helps to demonstrate how small problems can be made worse, among other things. The group serves as an on-going support mechanism to help teens throughout the process of changing their behaviors, and it helps the members of the group to gain a broader perspective of their problems. Some specific problems discussed in group therapy include: Anger Management, Drub Abuse, Conflict Resolution, Self-Esteem, Healthy Communication, Empathy, Depression, Education, and other General Life Skills. The group not only gives it’s members the strength to stand up, but it also provides them with the courage to move forward. New Acres Home For Children

Bible Study Studying the bible develops an appetite for God’s word and allows for spiritual growth. Through their knowledge of God’s word and the relationship they build with God through the study of His word, teens gain strength, courage, wisdom, and confidence in the power of God. All of which are critical elements to the foundation of a successful life. In our program, bible study is completely optional. There are no consequences for not participating, and the rewards for those who do participate are granted by God, and never by our staff. New Acres Home For Children

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