Ketron Cottage admits youths ages 12 through 14 years old and is intended for the young adolescent population of CSTC. Like other cottage programs at the hospital, Ketron provides a cottage manual to youth when they are admitted. "The Ketron Youth Handbook" is a youth-friendly guide that counselors review with each youth on admission day to help orient them to basic rules, schedules, activities and treatment team members. Every youth has a primary counselor on each shift who helps them learn program rules and structure, develop individualized safety plans and successfully reach their goals. The cottage has a capacity of 16 youth.
The cottage treatment team collaboratively interacts with youths to help them connect their internal experiences (i.e., emotions and thoughts) with language so that they are more likely to make safe choices in difficult moments. Youths also learn more about the relationship between their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and how these relationships can create helpful or unhelpful outcomes. As Ketron youths learn and practice new skills, they learn how to use these skills to prepare for and cope with life challenges and be more successful when they return to the community. The team also works with families whenever possible to teach them skills to help increase productive communication, build trust, reduce conflict, increase behavioral skills and increase successful problem-solving.
The Ketron program relies on collaborative communication styles that enhance motivation for change by increasing youth engagement and collaboration, affirming youth strengths, and helping each youth identify their own goals and values. Treatment is tailored to the individual youth and is informed by cognitive behavior therapy, dialectical behavior therapy and trauma focused-cognitive behavior therapy. The goal of Ketron Cottage staff is to create a safe and trustworthy place where youths can learn and practice safe speech and actions, respect for self and others, responsibility for self, commitment to positive behavior, hopefulness and skills to be more effective and safer in the community.