Typical Student
Students that are accepted at Jubilee Youth Ranch and Academy typically struggle with multiple issues.

Counseling
The youth who come to Jubilee have experienced adversity and failures in life.  Typical among the struggles they have experienced are academic failure, substance abuse, legal involvement, mental health challenges, problems with anger, abandonment, rejection, social alienation, and various behavior issues. 

Any combination of stressful or traumatic events in family of origin such as abuse, neglect, divorce, death, parental substance abuse, imprisonment, etc., can contribute to difficulty in functioning.  In addition, personal behavior choices often exacerbate an already tenuous ability to cope effectively and contribute further to poor decisions and behavior.

Families usually don’t seek help for their child until it is apparent that life is not working well and excuses can no longer explain away behavior.  By that time behavior is well established.  Stressful events have imprinted automatic responses in the primitive and reactionary part of the brain and coping skills develop in order to seek safety.  Reasoning shuts down in favor of survival.  Emotions are masked. While these coping skills serve their purpose and work in the short term, problems arise because these coping skills don’t translate well in other venues, such as school, work and home. They are often applied automatically when an incident has a familiarity to a previously painful event, regardless of whether or not the new situation is threatening or benign.  Counseling is about taking a step back, analyzing reactive responses and retraining automatic thoughts for a better behavioral outcome.  For this reason, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is the primary, but not exclusive, method of counseling that is utilized at Jubilee. Additional methods include, but are not limited to, Brief Solution Focus, Motivational Interviewing and Family Systems Therapy.

Counseling also removes barriers to healing because past traumas and poor behavior choices create shame and blame.  As a result, one attempts to dodge issues, stuff them, or mentally outrun them.  When finally discussed in a confidential and safe setting, they lose their power so that healing can begin. Responsibility is appropriately assigned for what one is, or is not, responsible. Counseling also involves being accountable for one’s own behavior and accepting personal responsibility.  Past experiences help explain poor behavior but are not allowed to serve as an excuse for continuing that behavior.

Our counselor holds a Master of Social Work degree and is qualified to treat mental health problems.  Common mental health issues dealt with at Jubilee are depression, anxiety, attention deficit disorder, post traumatic stress syndrome, oppositional defiant disorder, as well as others. An evidenced-based course in Anger Management is mandatory for all youth residents. 

In addition, our counselor is also certified as a Chemical Dependency Professional and can deal with chemical dependencies within the limitations of the Division of Alcohol and Substance Abuse. 

It is our desire to include parents as much as possible in family sessions to enhance progress and increase the efficacy of changes that are being made. Additionally, near the time of program completion, a collaborative effort between Jubilee, the youth and parents/guardians will begin in order to ensure as smooth a transition home as possible, with family visits, family homework, and behavior monitoring.

Program Outcomes and Core Values
The program addresses broad areas that affect the quality of life. Our programs focus on housing, social, personal, spiritual and vocational development, with the goal of living a life of meaning and purpose as followers of Jesus Christ.

Faith Based Residential Care 24/7
Jubilee accepts young men from ages 13 through 18, up to their 19th birthday if in the process of graduating. Jubilee Youth Ranch and Academy is a minimum commitment of one year residency.

Jubilee has two residential dormitories that are nearly identical. Agape Hall and Speidel Memorial Hall (named in honor of former Jubilee student, Andrew Speidel). Together they provide rooms for 92 students.

Each room has one or two beds, two closets, and room for clothing storage under the bed.
Each dormitory has a chapel room, community restrooms and showers upstairs and downstairs, staff office and recreational, game at TV meeting rooms

See our Parent and Student Handbook

Change in Environment and Life Situations
Jubilee offers a refuge apart from:

Jubilee Youth Ranch and Academy creates an atmosphere that requires participation in all activities and academics and provides security, discipline and boundaries. Students are mentored and monitored 24 hours a day in a family oriented and community atmosphere.

Weekends are more relaxed but filled with activities as well as work projects on the ranch.

Family Counseling and Partnerships
The opportunity to work with young men requires that we also work with the families that bring them here. Many families struggle with issues and situations that they cannot control, other families can through counseling, education, local church and social services help.

Jubilee strives to connect parents with these opportunities and in some cases may require a parent or guardian to go through counseling with our staff counselor and chaplain or seek counseling from social services or a local church and pastor.

Our goal would be to know that a student is going home after the year placement or more to a stable, functional home situation so that the student can have the best opportunity to be successful in all areas as he moves on in life.

Parents Connect (RenWeb)
Keep tabs on your student through RenWeb, an on-line program that keeps you up-to-date on the academy your student’s grades and behavior.

Check out our parents link.