Intensive In-Home Services

Our in-home therapy program is designed to support at-risk children and families involved with DCFS or CCS by bringing compassionate, evidence-based care directly into the home. We offer one-on-one sessions tailored to each child’s emotional and behavioral needs, helping them build resilience, process trauma, and develop healthy coping skills as well as family sessions that strengthen family bonds, improve communication, and foster understanding between caregivers and children. We also provide personalized coaching and support for caregivers to build parenting confidence, reinforce positive discipline strategies, and navigate complex family dynamics.

Individual Skill Development Enhancement is a service offered through the CCS Program that provides personalized support to adults and children working toward their individualized goals. This program includes one-on-one meetings, structured activities to build social skills, crisis intervention, and collaborative partnerships that enhance daily living. Youth Support Specialists (YSS) work with children to help youth achieve their personal goals through one-on-one and group sessions, structured recreational activities that foster social skills, crisis intervention, school support, and regular communication with parents. Youth meet individually with staff, attend group activities, and participate in facilitated sessions designed to build confidence, connection, and life skills. Sessions with adults focus on developing life skills such as budgeting, housing stability, employability, technology use, maintaining abstinence, building social connections, and increasing independence. Providers assess each client’s strengths and challenges to tailor services to their unique needs, while also facilitating activities that promote pro-social behavior and community engagement.

Circles of Security Parenting (COSP) is a structured, eight-chapter program designed to be delivered in either individual or group settings. Developed to strengthen secure attachment and caregiving relationships, COSP also provides tools to help repair relational ruptures that may have occurred for various reasons. At its core, the Circle of Security offers a framework for understanding children's emotions and behaviors, encouraging caregivers to look beyond surface actions and respond to the underlying relational needs. The program emphasizes that for children to learn and behave effectively, they must first feel safe, secure, and deeply connected to their caregivers.

Emotionally Focused Family Therapy (EFFT) is a therapeutic approach grounded in attachment science that helps families build stronger emotional bonds and navigate life’s challenges together. The EFFT process focuses on stabilizing negative interaction patterns, restructuring caregiver-child dynamics, and reinforcing the sense of security that emerges from these new, healthier connections. Therapists guide families toward more responsive and coherent communication, especially during times of developmental change. A key aspect of EFFT is identifying and addressing blocks in parental caregiving—often rooted in past relational injuries or misattunements—that hinder a caregiver's ability to meet their child’s attachment needs. As family members begin to engage more openly with each other’s emotions and needs, the process often leads to rapid and meaningful transformation.

Occupational Therapy supports children and adults enrolled in CCS in developing the skills needed to participate meaningfully in everyday activities across various environments, including education, play, leisure, work, social interaction, daily living, and rest. Occupational therapists use sensory-based interventions to enhance body awareness and internal sensation recognition—key components in building independent self-regulation. They also help clients create personalized sensory strategies to calm the nervous system during moments of dysregulation. In sessions, therapists work with clients on emotional awareness and regulation, sensory exploration and processing, coping strategies, and social skills, all through engaging, client-led activities.

Theraplay is a therapist-guided approach that uses playful, caring interactions between children and their caregivers to foster joyful, shared experiences. These activities are designed to build attunement and mutual understanding, mirroring the early relational experiences that promote secure attachment. With the support of a trained Theraplay practitioner, caregivers learn to engage with their child in ways that create a sense of felt safety, enhance social engagement, support emotional regulation, and nurture positive self-esteem for both the child and the parent. The interactions are personal, physical, and fun—offering a natural and powerful path to healing through connection.

Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) is an evidence-based treatment designed to improve the quality of the parent-child relationship and reshape interaction patterns between young children and their caregivers. Through this approach, caregivers are taught specific skills that help them build a nurturing, secure bond with their child while also encouraging positive behaviors and reducing negative ones. The therapy includes a brief instructional component, but its core lies in real-time, moment-to-moment coaching as parents interact with their child. Each session includes skill assessment, and therapy is considered complete once caregivers demonstrate mastery of the techniques—regardless of how long that takes.

Trauma-Informed Care (TIC) is a six-week training workshop offered in-person or virtually each spring and fall. This introductory program provides psychoeducation for caregivers on how to support and parent children who have experienced trauma. The training explores the impact of trauma on child development and behavior, while equipping participants with practical tools to foster healing and connection. TIC can also be completed individually through the supportive foster care program, offering flexibility to meet the needs of each caregiver.