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About Us
Welcome to SPRINGyouth!
SPRINGyouth started as a late-night thought that kept coming back - what if there was an organization dedicated to keeping kids at home? One that would help create a team of professionals to provide intensive support and services to kids at risk of entering inpatient psychiatric hospitals, residential treatment centers, or the "Troubled Teen Industry", or TTI as colloquially called. For those who don’t know, the TTI is an “industry” of hundreds of for-profit (and some non-profit) programs for kids, offering mental health or substance use treatment. Unsilenced.com does an amazing job of discussing and defining the industry.
For many kids, their struggles are complex - a mix of mental, behavioral, psychiatric, and medical struggles that co-exist in such a way that efforts to help have been unsuccessful at best, harmful at worst. I remember a therapist telling my dad and stepmom to pin me against a wall and call the cops every time I started to have a “rage”. Way too often (but not always), trauma is a big factor in the development of these struggles, which can be hard to identify in the best of circumstances. If you’re reading this, you are not in the best of circumstances. You’ve probably experienced a myriad of diagnoses for you or your child - diagnoses like Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PSTD), Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD), Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), and more. Some of these are probably accurate. And some have probably fallen as more information is gathered, painting a better picture of what’s going on. At SPRINGyouth, we believe diagnoses to be useful tools to learn how best to support, rather than to label.
With so many different service offerings out there, it can be really hard to know which one is “right”, especially if you’ve tried so many. One metaphor I like to use is that therapy and “treatment”, in the broadest sense of the word, can be much like psychiatry - trial and error of different medications at different dosages and combinations before you find the right fit. It can take time, but it’s more than possible. At SPRINGyouth, we connect you and your family to as many supports as possible, taking factors such as time, money, mental capacity, and burnout into consideration. Over time, we might increase some services, decrease others, add a service or two, take some away, or some other combination. We function as a team, where everyone involved in the care of the child has an important say, voice, and opinion. An example of a team is a therapist, psychiatrist, pediatrician, occupational therapist, Certified Family Partner for the parents, peer support specialist, leader(s) of a support group the child is involved in, the child’s sport coach, guidance counselor, and favorite teacher, and, of course, the child themselves. While this might seem like a lot of people, every person has an important and influential role in the recovery and betterment of the child and their family, so everyone is important.
If this sounds like you, your family, or a family you know, please reach out. Help, peace, calm, and hope, is available. As of current, SPRINGyouth offers services to those residing in a 15-mile radius to the University of Texas at Austin, though exceptions can be made on a case-by-case basis.
About Us
Welcome to SPRINGyouth!
SPRINGyouth started as a late-night thought that kept coming back - what if there was an organization dedicated to keeping kids at home? One that would help create a team of professionals to provide intensive support and services to kids at risk of entering inpatient psychiatric hospitals, residential treatment centers, or the "Troubled Teen Industry", or TTI as colloquially called. For those who don’t know, the TTI is an “industry” of hundreds of for-profit (and some non-profit) programs for kids, offering mental health or substance use treatment. Unsilenced.com does an amazing job of discussing and defining the industry.
For many kids, their struggles are complex - a mix of mental, behavioral, psychiatric, and medical struggles that co-exist in such a way that efforts to help have been unsuccessful at best, harmful at worst. I remember a therapist telling my dad and stepmom to pin me against a wall and call the cops every time I started to have a “rage”. Way too often (but not always), trauma is a big factor in the development of these struggles, which can be hard to identify in the best of circumstances. If you’re reading this, you are not in the best of circumstances. You’ve probably experienced a myriad of diagnoses for you or your child - diagnoses like Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PSTD), Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD), Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), and more. Some of these are probably accurate. And some have probably fallen as more information is gathered, painting a better picture of what’s going on. At SPRINGyouth, we believe diagnoses to be useful tools to learn how best to support, rather than to label.
With so many different service offerings out there, it can be really hard to know which one is “right”, especially if you’ve tried so many. One metaphor I like to use is that therapy and “treatment”, in the broadest sense of the word, can be much like psychiatry - trial and error of different medications at different dosages and combinations before you find the right fit. It can take time, but it’s more than possible. At SPRINGyouth, we connect you and your family to as many supports as possible, taking factors such as time, money, mental capacity, and burnout into consideration. Over time, we might increase some services, decrease others, add a service or two, take some away, or some other combination. We function as a team, where everyone involved in the care of the child has an important say, voice, and opinion. An example of a team is a therapist, psychiatrist, pediatrician, occupational therapist, Certified Family Partner for the parents, peer support specialist, leader(s) of a support group the child is involved in, the child’s sport coach, guidance counselor, and favorite teacher, and, of course, the child themselves. While this might seem like a lot of people, every person has an important and influential role in the recovery and betterment of the child and their family, so everyone is important.
If this sounds like you, your family, or a family you know, please reach out. Help, peace, calm, and hope, is available. As of current, SPRINGyouth offers services to those residing in a 15-mile radius to the University of Texas at Austin, though exceptions can be made on a case-by-case basis.
Our Mission
By 2029, our goal is to create The SPRINGyouth Foundation, dedicated to making treatment services even more accessible. We hope to do this through a series of grants, donations, and more to offer vouchers to families in need. These vouchers will go to things such as medical and therapy co-pays, services through SPRINGyouth, transportation to and from appointments, monetary support to offset any income lost by families attending appointments, and more.
Therapists being able to recieve trainings in more modalities increases access to care, so The SPRINGyouth Foundation plans to partner with therapists and group practices to partially or fully subsidize the costs associated with additional trainings.
Additionally, The SPRINGyouth Foundation will focus on furthering mental health advocacy and decreasing mental health stigma through increased education and awareness. We plan to offer support groups for youth, families, friends supporting friends, and more.
If you are interested in working with us, please reach out at info@springyouth.org.
