The Hamilton Family Home is a Hamilton-based residential home that caters for 5 young men with significant behavioural problems, including offending, who are at risk of poor life outcomes and who require high levels of intervention.

Participants

The young people participating in this programme will be between the ages of 12 and 16 and will typically have one or more behavioural issues, but their primary diagnosis must be Conduct Disorder.

These young people may also be experiencing troubled relationships with their families, have a history of placement failure, have problems that may have resulted in them being suspended from school, and who may have histories of abuse or neglect.

The Service

After being referred through the Youth Service Strategy Programmes within Child, Youth and Family, the young men entering the programme are provided with intensive support, behavioural management and the help they need to reintegrate back into their community.

Successful reintegration is seen to require the provision of additional support and coaching to families of those young people taking part in the programme.

The service utilises a behaviour management system to encourage good behaviour and to assist the young people in complying with and practicing those things they learn throughout the programme. This also includes daily reports received from school teachers.

“ Rules they see as fair, a behavioural system they understand and staff they can respect, produces a calming effect on the boys and provides a routine to which they respond well” (Don Derecourt, 2008)

Staff at the Hamilton Family Home use a combination of evidence-based and culturally appropriate methods to help young people find the sustainable solutions that will enable them to participate in their community and to return to their families.

The home is regarded by Youth Horizons as a vital step on the comprehensive continuum of care, which supports young people and their families in the home environment, and is backed by Foster Care and residential options when further support is required.

For further information please contact Don Derecourt (Coordinator) on 07 850 4575 / 029 584 4939 or at dond@youthorizons.org.nz