Youth Correctional Center

A 16-bed structure, housing male juveniles for treatment.

A 25-bed structure housing male and female juveniles. Cottage staff provide a variety of programs including Assessment, Detention, and Time Out. Additionally, this cottage houses high risk or high maintenance male juveniles. It also serves as the intake cottage for all new male and female admissions.

ART is a cognitive-behavioral intervention for the reduction of aggressive and violent behaviors with youth. It is a multimodal program that has three components of social skill training, anger, control training, and moral reasoning development.

Brief Strategic Family Therapy (BSFT®) is an evidenced-based, problem-focused therapy that aims to improve parent-child interactions, develop conflict resolution skills, build upon parenting skills, and increase communication between family members. BSFT® targets and corrects maladaptive patterns of family interactions that are linked to externalized behaviors and internalized symptomology in children ages 6-17.

Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) treatment is a type of psychotherapy or talk therapy, that utilizes a cognitive-behavioral approach. DBT emphasizes the psychosocial aspects of treatment. The theory behind the approach is that some people are prone to react in a more intense and out-of-the-ordinary manner toward certain emotional situations.

The North Dakota Youth Correctional Center (NDYCC) provides Intensive Outpatient Drug and Alcohol Treatment at Level II. One for qualified juveniles placed at the NDYCC, as well as an aftercare program at Level I.

The current model of substance abuse treatment is Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Substance Abuse or CBI-SA. The CBI-SA model provides a curriculum designed for individuals who are moderate to high risk and moderate to high need in the area of substance abuse. It relies on a cognitive-behavioral approach to teach participants strategies for avoiding substance abuse. The program places a heavy emphasis on skill-building activities to assist with cognitive, social, emotional, and coping skills development.

It is a 10 to 12 week cognitive behavioral intervention that covers Seven Modules: Optional Pre-treatment Sessions, Motivational Engagements, Cognitive Restructuring, Emotional Regulation, Social Skill Development, Problem Solving Skill Development, and Relapse Prevention. The Curriculum is designed for juveniles to receive 42 lessons, as well as numerous Advanced Practice sessions to continue implementing skills. 

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is an integrative psychotherapy approach that has been extensively researched and proven effective for the treatment of trauma. EMDR is a set of standardized protocols that incorporates elements from many different treatment approaches.

The North Dakota Youth Correctional Center (NDYCC) utilizes the Phoenix New Freedom (Book 4) curriculum as a comprehensive resource that addresses the needs and risk factors underlying gang membership. These resources provide youth the skills, techniques, and confidence to leave gangs.

This curriculum is intended to target the treatment needs of adolescents who have been convicted of sexual offenses. It is designed to: (1) Promote healthy sexual attitudes and behaviors; (2) Encourage youth to take responsibility for behaviors; (3) Identify and replace risky thinking; (4) Learn to manage emotions; (5) Develop the ability to take the perspective of others; (6) Build social skills to strengthen relationships; (7) Support the formation of a positive identify; and (8) Strengthen the bonds with family members.

Self-Explanatory 

The North Dakota Youth Correctional Center (NDYCC) contracts with a part-time Child Psychiatrist, who performs consultations and evaluations on juveniles with psychiatric needs. 

The NDYCC has a Nurse Practitioner on staff who oversees medication monitoring for juveniles who are on psychotropic medications.

The NDYCC contracts with Sanford Health of Bismarck for one part-time Psychologist.

The NDYCC has two Mental Health Professional positions on staff, who provide individual, group, and family therapy, as well as manage the Suicide Prevention Programming.

TF-CBT is a clinic-based, individual treatment that involves individual sessions with the child and parents as well as joint parent-child sessions. The goal of TF-CBT is to help address the biopsychosocial needs of children, with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or other problems related to traumatic life experiences, and possibly their parents or primary caregivers. TF-CBT is a model of psychotherapy that combines trauma-sensitive interventions with cognitive behavioral therapy. Children and parents are provided knowledge and skills related to processing the trauma; managing distressing thoughts, feelings, and behaviors; and enhancing safety, parenting skills, and family communication. 

The North Dakota Youth Correctional Center (NDYCC) provides treatment for adolescent sexual offending behavior for those youth within a moderate to high risk level as determined by an actuarial measure of sexual recidivism. The current program being used is titled, "I Decide: Cognitive Behavioral Intervention to Control Impulses and Create Identity". This Curriculum is designed to target the treatment needs of adolescents who have been convicted of sexual offenses. It is intended to; (1) promote healthy sexual attitudes and behaviors; (2) encourage youth to take responsibility for behaviors; (3) identify and replace risky thinking; (4) learn to manage emotions; (5) develop the ability to take the perspective of others; (6) build social skills to strengthen relationships; (7) support the formation of a positive identity; and (8) strengthen bonds with family members. The curriculum includes 30 structured group sessions and 4 individual sessions. The curriculum is designed to be delivered in a closed group format. Each session is approximately 60 minutes in length. Staff facilitating the program are required to have completed the training and certification of the "I Decide" curriculum.

Truthought is a cognitive-behavioral curriculum with emphasis on patterns of thinking and life choices to enhance decision-making skills, character formation, and fostering prosocial community living. The mission is to equip youth with precision tools for influencing responsible, meaningful ways of living through the processing of thinking barriers, which promotes an internalizing of principles for living.

The VIP group uses education and application to assist residents in identifying, understanding and becoming sensitive to the feelings and thoughts of others. This program is aimed at fostering empathy among residents. It focuses on residents understanding the harm their actions have caused to others and taking responsibility to repair the harm. The Victim Impact Program examines the impact of property crimes such as burglary and vandalism, as well as personal crimes, such as assault and disorderly conduct. Residents learn how each crime affects the lives of its victims. Residents also learn about substance abuse and the correction between the use of alcohol and drugs and crime.

The North Dakota Youth Correctional Center (NDYCC) offers education to all individuals who are eligible for schooling. All educational offerings are based on the individual's own needs. This unique environment of small class sizes and more one-on-one opportunities can be very effective for the NDYCC students. The offerings are diverse and rich in variety and are offered following the Personalized Competency Based Learning (PCBL) initiative. The school is accredited by the Department of Public Instruction and Cognia. 

The students have the opportunity to participate in the following educational environments:

• Adult Basic Education Program working toward General Education Development (GED) diploma                              
• Career and Technical Educational Courses                                                           
• Core Subject Areas
• Elective Courses
• Junior High and High School Courses

Students needing reading intervention will be instructed in the high need areas using Science of Reading instructional strategies around alphabetics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

The North Dakota Youth Correctional Center provides counseling which meets individually and in small groups with all students. During these working sessions, students have the chance to explore interests, as well as build a resume and resources to take with them upon leaving our facility. 

• Career Plan                                                                                                                 
• College Related Services                                                                                               
• FAFSA (Financial Aid Applications)                                                                                
• Scholarships                                                                                                                 
• College Applications                                                                                                     
• Cover Letters                                                                                                     
• Interests Inventory                                                                                                       
• Interview Practice                                                                                                         
• Resumes                                                                                                                     
• Testing Opportunities                                                                                                   
• ACT                                                                                                                                 
• ASVAB
• Accuplacer

The North Dakota Youth Correctional Library features over 1,500 volumes and 300 DVDs, as well as newspapers and periodicals for the educational and recreational use of students, faculty and staff. We are a member of the ODIN consortium and participate in interlibrary loan with access to other North Dakota school, public, and academic libraries. 

Orientation Program

Orientation is a requirement for all new students in their first week on campus. It familiarizes students to the expectations and procedures of the school at the NDYCC. The final element of orientation is a school tour to better transition the students smoothly into their first day of school.

Students, teachers, and campus case management meet monthly to review progress and learning. In preparation for this meeting, all educators grade the students in the areas provided below daily:

• Effort
• Behavior 

In an effort to communicate effectively with the schools that will be receiving our students upon their discharge, a Transitions Packet is prepared and sent to the school main office or principal. 

This packet offers:

Teacher Observations, Academic Ability, Interventions, Strengths, Employability Skills, Career Awareness/Exploration, Academic Preparation

To request a transcript please call the School Administrative Assistant at (701) 667-1403.

Questions regarding Education call Director of Education at (701) 667-1445 or NDYCC Principal at (701) 667-1481.