CHRIS’ STORY

Chris had a homeless mother and an absent father. Sent to live with an aunt, he lashed out at school. Instead of juvenile detention, Chris was referred to Youth Villages.

He quickly entered Youth Villages’ Multisystemic Therapy program and was paired with specialist Kelly Freeman. MST is an evidence-based treatment model for youth ages 12 to 17 who display serious antisocial behaviors and are at-risk of out-of-home placement due to their behaviors.

“It wasn’t easy opening up to Kelly,” Chris remembers. “She kept asking me a lot of questions until one day, I told myself just to open up.” After that, the world became less daunting for Chris.

“Youth Villages helped me grow as a person, and I want to be a better human because of them,” he said. “I developed such a bond with Kelly. I never had anyone care for me as much as she did.”

Nowadays, you can find Chris studying full time and working part time. “[He’s] set a lot of goals and standards for himself,” Kelly said. “He was able to reflect on decisions he made, and I could see he wanted to do better, which made my job easier.”

Soon, Chris will become part of the Youth Villages YVLifeSet™ program as he transitions to independent adulthood. “Youth Villages gave me the best support I’ve ever experienced,” Chris said. “I don’t ever want to lose my connection with them.” Youth Villages helped 698 children and youth through Multisystemic Therapy in 2017 in Alabama, North Carolina and Tennessee.

By The Numbers

Youth Villages provides effective help to children through many different programs and services.

(Figures Below are Core Services Only)

Drugs helped dull the pain. Overdoses and arrests became the norm. Finally, two Youth Villages’ programs began to help.