Okaloosa Youth Academy utilizes a team approach to teaching adjudicated youth the fundamentals of goal and objective setting and completion. A multidisciplinary Treatment Team meets bi-weekly with the youth to initiate and monitor a Performance Plan, based on a thorough assessment of the needs that must be addressed to increase the youths’ level of functioning in the community. The Treatment Team is composed of the Program Director or his designee, a mental health professional, a nursing representative, a representative from the educational program, the youth’s case manager, a direct-care staff member, the youth’s parents or guardians, and the youth himself.

Every youth at Okaloosa Youth Academy earns his way through the program based on the completion of his Performance Plan goals and objectives, one of which is completion of the Adolescent Behavioral Developmental Incentive Program (ABDIP). This program documents their daily behavior according to 8 specific behavioral areas and identifies specific growth areas in the youths’ social skills. The youth at Okaloosa Youth Academy also take part in a Skillstreaming group Monday through Friday that helps the youth develop 50 specific social skills through role playing and staff instruction.

Another strength of Okaloosa Youth Academy is the utilization of the Seven Challenges substance abuse program, which emphasizes the decision-making process involved in the process of quitting drugs and alcohol. It is the premise of this program that youth who resume using drugs after being discharged from a commitment program do so because they never made a conscious decision to quit, but rather quit because drugs were no longer available. Seven Challenges encourages the youth to explore the motivation behind their drug use, determine whether drug use helps them meet their goals, and finally, make some informed decisions about the role they want drugs to play in their lives.

Another excellent opportunity at Okaloosa Youth Academy is the ARISE Anger Management curriculum, which provides the youth with the fundamentals of anger management. The youth learn that what really must be managed is their anger-driven behavior, and they learn more effective means of expressing this anger. Okaloosa Youth Academy also utilizes the group process to teach the concept of empathy, the nature of criminal thinking patterns, and the necessary element of victim awareness. A recent development in our program that has dramatically increased our ability to provide mental health services to youth who need them is the implementation of the Behavioral Health Overlay Services (BHOS) program. This program allows for the majority of OYA’s group counseling services to be provided by Masters’ level therapists. Okaloosa Youth Academy’s group counseling programming increases youths’ competency in anger management, life skills, social skills, employability, reasoning, decision making, impulse control, conflict resolution, leadership, and interpersonal problem-solving.

Youth at Okaloosa Youth Academy participate in strenuous physical training and team sports activities. Their daily activities are part of a rigid schedule that begins at 5:00 AM. The youth attend an excellent school program provided by the Okaloosa County School District. Youth have the opportunity to participate in either a carpentry or masonry vocational program as part of their educational experience and if eligible can even earn a GED or accredited High School Diploma, as OYA is a certified GED testing center.

Community Service projects are a integral part of the Okaloosa Youth Academy program. Youth who pass our Risk Assessment criteria to participate in community activities are encouraged to complete their community service court sanctions during their stay at OYA. Opportunities for community service have included painting and landscaping at local churches and schools. Okaloosa Youth Academy also has ongoing projects, preparing the baseball fields for the Crestview Little League and picking up trash for the Adopt-A-Highway program. Through community service projects OYA youth learn the benefits of altruism, and the local community becomes more satisfied with the rehabilitation process and more willing to help youth transition back into the community.

Okaloosa Youth Academy is a program that provides adjudicated youth with the opportunity of a second chance. As part of a team devoted to excellence and success, youth leave OYA with the skills and knowledge to become a productive and responsible citizen in the community.