Counseling at Bayes Achievement Center (BAC) is a vital part of the treatment experience for our high- functioning student population. Counseling allows for the formation of a relationship built on trust between the student and a trained professional. This relationship then becomes a catalyst for change, particularly as it addresses unhealthy thought processes. Many of our students have come to us having reached a point where they are controlled by their emotions and their immediate desires. Because of this emotional chaos they are no longer successful at managing academics or personal relationships. Our counselors work diligently to ascertain the root cause for these maladaptive behaviors and help guide the students as they find solutions.

Our counselors are provided the opportunity to design individual plans to meet the needs of the students; for that reason they are not required to adhere to one counseling model. The models that the counselors work with are evidenced-based, and the models have proven to be effective with helping students learn appropriate methods to manage frustration, to deal with grief/loss, to form and maintain relationships, and to identify and self-regulate their emotions. Each student in our setting has unique needs and thus the counselors design a plan to address those individualized needs.

The goal of counseling at Bayes Achievement Center is to help our students gather the necessary tools to emerge from our setting as functioning members of society, no longer ruled by impulse and emotional responses.

 

Individual Counseling

Individual counseling is offered to our students as specified by their IEP or as determined by our Treatment Team. Individual sessions are typically 30-60 minutes per school week and cover matters relevant to the individual needs of each student. Due to our 24-hour Behavior Therapy Program, formal counseling is not necessary on a daily basis, rather the counselors work as an integral part of the Treatment Team to support the teachers and teaching parents in addressing any emergent needs.

Family and Group Counseling

Family counseling may be offered monthly at the request of the family, and may become more frequent as reunification with the family approaches. Family counseling is a powerful tool to teach the family effective communication skills and to help form clear and appropriate boundaries within the family unit.

Group counseling exists to provide our students a safe place to practice social skills, receive puberty/adolescent education, practice social boundaries, and learn to identify and manage emotions. The groups range from psychoeducational groups to process groups and are led by two licensed counselors. Group counseling occurs weekly, bi-monthly, or monthly, as specified by the IEP or determined by the Treatment Team.

 

 

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.” --Viktor E. Frankl