Mental Health Center

Valley Teen Ranch has an exciting opportunity! Right now our residents receive their mental health services right in the homes where they reside. It can be very hard to focus on a difficult topic when you can hear the other residents right outside the door! Currently we have a the opportunity to build a Mental Health Center on our property, and $20,000 will become available if we can raise the rest.
 
I have worked at Valley Teen Ranch since 2003. Everyday I listen to stories from the boys who are placed here. What they have been through before they get here is overwhelming. They have made bad choices, but their lives have been incredibly painful. Sometimes I just ask them to tell me of something wonderful they have seen because it is so hard to hear all of the traumatic tales. One resident recently told me about a day when he got to sit under a waterfall. He described what it was like for him to sit on a rock that had been smoothed by the water into the shape of a chair, and to feel the water as it fell on him. After hearing of all the abuse and neglect he has been through, it was so touching to hear about this one special moment when life was good for him.

I want to give these boys more waterfalls. I want to give them the most therapeutic experience I possibly can. I want to use the Mental Health Center as a safe haven where they can tell their stories, let go of the bad stuff, and build a path to a positive future.