Lubbock, Texas – August 10, 2022 – Saint Francis Ministries will open a residential treatment facility within the next several months to help to fill a gap in services in Region 1 and keep youth needing in-patient, therapeutic services closer to home.
The child and family services not-for-profit will operate a Qualified Residential Treatment Program, or QRTP, in Lubbock to serve youth in the Texas Panhandle. Located in the former Buckner Children and Families Services’ FYI Center, 125 Chicago Avenue, Saint Francis Residential – Texas will provide clinical psychiatric care in a small group home setting to children and youth in out-of-home care.
Currently, there are only 16 residential treatment beds available in Region 1, and no QRTP beds, which means that for youth to receive adequate services, they must be sent to communities across the state. Saint Francis’s new QRTP will provide an additional 21 beds for youth ages 13-18.
“Right now, some families face a nine-hour drive to a residential treatment center in another part of the state,” said Executive Director Kristina Brown. “This can be an insurmountable challenge for families who may be asked to participate in weekly therapy sessions with their children, especially as transportation is already an issue for many in our predominantly rural region. The challenges posed by having to send children out of the area to receive treatment can result in a significant increase in the time it takes to successfully reunify a family.”
Under the Family First Prevention Services Act, the QRTP model is designed to serve youth with serious emotional or behavioral disturbances and disorders through trauma-informed, evidence-based treatment processes based on the results of formal assessments of the child’s needs. Saint Francis Residential – Texas will focus on treating the whole child – physical, emotional, spiritual – using a full range of therapeutic tools that include Animal Assisted Therapy, Substance Use Counseling, Individual and Group Therapy, Psychosocial Services, Nursing, Independent Living Training, and Trauma Direct Care.
“Saint Francis Residential – Texas is excited to partner with Saint Francis Ministries to bring a QRTP to Texas that focuses on serving children in the Panhandle,” said Darrin Sewell, vice president for SFM’s residential and outpatient services. “This QRTP will be a first of its kind in the region and will bring about opportunities to serve children and their families well. We are excited to partner as a contractor with the SSCC to provide these desperately needed services to the area.”
About Saint Francis Ministries
Saint Francis Ministries work encompasses foster care, therapeutic foster care, adoption, family preservation/intensive in-home services, residential care, and community outreach services. Strongly rooted in the Episcopal tradition, SFM was founded by an Episcopal priest in 1945 in Ellsworth, Kansas. The organization now serves more than 11,000 individuals through child and family welfare services in Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Texas, and Arkansas. Additionally, Saint Francis provides supervised living and employment services for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Mississippi. The organization is headquartered in Salina, Kansas. For more information, visit www.saintfrancisministries.org or call 800.423.1342.
In Texas, Saint Francis Ministries operates as the SSCC in Region 1, providing case management services. Saint Francis Residentials is a division of Saint Francis Ministries and separately provides the new residential services.
