The Phoenix House- Services Designed with Intention
Here’s how services work . . .
Who we serve . . .
The Phoenix House is a six-bed therapeutic group home serving male youth ages 14 through 17 who have a behavioral-health diagnosis together with an intellectual or developmental disability, including autism spectrum disorder. Youth admitted to the program experience significant behavioral, emotional, communication, or adaptive-functioning challenges that require active treatment, multidisciplinary clinical oversight, and repeated therapeutic intervention within a structured 24-hour residential environment.
Admission is based on individualized clinical assessment, medical necessity, and the determination that the youth’s treatment needs cannot be safely and effectively met through a less intensive level of care. Phoenix House integrates behavioral-health treatment, developmental adaptations, family engagement, medical and psychiatric coordination, and daily opportunities to practice and generalize skills across home and community settings.
The program may be appropriate for youth who are stepping down from psychiatric or other intensive residential treatment, are at risk of requiring a more restrictive level of care, or need an intensive therapeutic environment to stabilize behavior, increase adaptive functioning, strengthen communication, and prepare for successful family and community living.
Therapeutic Integration and Programming
Clinical staff help residents understand that their identities do not have to be defined by a single set of experiences. Through opportunities to discover meaning, purpose, and contribution, youth begin to recognize their strengths, abilities, and capacity for growth. This process supports a balanced sense of self and empowers residents to build, repair, and sustain meaningful relationships.
Youth receive clinical supports based on assessed needs and identified in their individualized plan of care. Examples include:
Psychiatric evaluation & management
Medication management and monitoring
Comprehensive behavioral health and functional assessment, individualized treatment planning, and progress review
Crisis assessment, individualized safety planning, and clinical response
Individual, family, and group therapy
Health services (History & Physical, screening, assessment, and care)
Nursing consultation with 24/7 availability; health and medication education
Case Management & Coordination
Psychosocial Assessment
Family engagement and caregiver coaching
Transition and discharge planning, including supported therapeutic passes
Behavior assessment and individualized behavior-support planning
Positive behavior supports
Functional communication
Adapted CBT strategies
Emotion regulation & coping skills
Visual routines
Executive‑function supports
Applied Behavior Analysis
Qualified practitioners provide specialized services within their defined scope. Staff implement approved strategies and collect meaningful observations. Nurse practitioner services are provided on-site.
When a youth requires specialty care not readily available at The Phoenix House, the case manager and nurse consultant secure community-based practitioners to provide medically necessary services. Examples may include:
Occupational therapy
Speech & Language services
Neurology & neuropsychological assessment and services
Psychological testing
Dietician services
Dental services
Vision services
Coordination with physical therapy, audiology, and other specialty providers when medically necessary
Non-routine medical care
Specialty services are arranged based on medical necessity — never assumed.
Services are delivered through an individualized, interdisciplinary plan of care developed from comprehensive behavioral-health, developmental, functional, medical, and risk assessments. Each plan identifies measurable goals, evidence-informed interventions, responsible practitioners, methods for measuring progress, and strategies for transferring skills across residential, family, educational, and community settings. Treatment intensity and supports are reviewed regularly and adjusted based on the youth’s response, changing needs, and progress toward transition to a less intensive level of care.
Purposeful Ordinary Life
Routines are developed to create a daily rhythm that feels real, human, and predictable.
Youth participate in the ordinary experiences that shape adulthood:
School (or GED preparation or other vocational programming)
Personal care
Meals
Treatment
Community meeting and goal setting
Skills development including life skills, social skills
Relationships including conflict resolution, healthy boundary setting
Recreation including physical activity and exercise
Cultural activities
Access to spiritual or religious services (at resident request)
Engagement in extracurricular activities (as clinically indicated)
Rest and leisure
The 21-day programming cycle preserves one week for ordinary life and is meant for youth to shift from a schedule filled with activity to one of ordinary routines where they must learn how to manage time by tapping into their own likes, preferences, and goals outside of the larger group.
Targeted Interventions and Supports
Trauma-informed, autism-informed, and developmentally responsive treatment
Sensory assessment, regulation strategies, and environmental accommodations
Social-skills, interpersonal-skills, and collaborative problem-solving interventions
Therapeutic milieu interventions provided throughout the day, evenings, and weekends
Measurement of behavior, adaptive functioning, skill acquisition, and treatment response
Practice and generalization of skills across residential, family, school, and community settings
Substance-use screening, education, counseling, and referral when clinically indicated
Youth participation and voice in assessment, treatment planning, progress review, and transition planning
Multidisciplinary treatment-team review and coordination
Additional Programming Structures
The program offers additional structures to engage residents in therapeutic tasks that are learning- and experience-based. Examples of additional programming structures include:
Therapeutic Equine Services in collaboration with Good Hope Equestrian and Regenerative Farm
PHASE Service Learning Project-Based and Community Service Model
Educational supports targeting numeracy and literacy competencies and remediation
Exploration of alternative educational pathways including GED option in lieu of school attendance, with appropriate approvals and recommendations.
Vocational assessment and training based on the Virginia CTE 22 skills for workforce readiness
Adaptive and Expressive skills building
Arts exploration including visual, theatre, and musical expression
Daily living skill habilitation/rehabilitation
PHASE: Service- Learning and Community Integration
Phoenix House does not wait for community integration to happen. We schedule it, staff it, teach it, practice it, and learn from it—every three weeks.
PHASE Service-Learning and Community Integration Model is a repeating 21-day rhythm through which residents investigate meaningful questions, prepare for real-world experiences, take community action, reflect on what they learned, and celebrate progress. The model transforms community integration from a happenstance event into an intentional part of the program’s identity.
Youth engage in projects, contribute to community life, reflect on growth, and celebrate progress.
Projects are based on service to others and community. Project focus may include:
Arts
Nature
Civic participation
Household and gardening skills
Community contribution
Participation is never judged by productivity — only by presence, engagement, and meaning.
Workforce Readiness and Skill Development
Residents develop practical life and employment skills through individualized learning, career exploration, hands-on training, and community-based experiences. These structured opportunities help youth identify meaningful career paths aligned with their strengths and interests while building the confidence, independence, and skills needed for a successful transition into adulthood.
A structured Virginia CTE curriculum focused on 22 core employment skills is used to prepare youth for a certificate program and the workforce. The curriculum focuses on three domains: Personal Qualities & Abilities, Interpersonal Skills, and Professional Competencies. The 22 skills fall within these domains. Examples of readiness skills include:
Initiative & Self-Direction
Customer Service Orientation
Team Work
Working Knowledge of Information Technology
Information Literacy Skills
Workplace Safety
Family Involvement & Engagement
Family and natural supports are engaged from admission forward whenever clinically appropriate. In addition to family therapy, Phoenix House provides caregiver education, regular treatment communication, behavioral-support coaching, therapeutic-pass preparation, and opportunities to practice treatment strategies across home and community settings.
Why It Works
We recognize that youth don’t learn adulthood by being protected from it. They learn it by experiencing, practicing, and belonging within it.
At Phoenix House, they rise — not because we remove every challenge, but because we walk with them through it. We believe in keeping expectations high and helping youth stretch to meet their goals.
