Exciting future, storied past

On Oct. 2, CBR YouthConnect will celebrate 50 years worth of experience helping troubled boys and girls in unique settings, giving them the ability to be productive and responsible members of society.
One of the leading methods in treating youth to reconnect with society has been to first teach them how to connect with animals.
On Wednesday, Denver businessman Steve Fuller, president of Colorado Boys Ranch Foundation, reviewed for the La Junta Rotary Club how Colorado Boys Ranch was started from scratch by a group of state judges and La Junta businessmen who saw the need to help some 4,000 “delinquent” boys get a second chance in life. Fuller also told the Rotarians how CBR YouthConnect has evolved into one of the nation’s premier psychiatric residential treatment facilities.
Fuller weaved into about 40 minutes a story that is long and complicated, full of challenges, changes and countless positive outcomes. But one thing has remained constant: From its humble beginnings until today, the Boys Ranch has learned that caring for animals often is the key to helping troubled youth reconnect in positive ways with the people around them.
“It’s an exciting time for CBR YouthConnect,” Fuller said. “There is great potential here for research down the road, especially in animal-assisted therapy. We’ve already had some teams come to study how we do things, but there are no standards for it across the nation.”
In other words, CBR YouthConnect sets the standard in animal-assisted therapy for helping boys at the ranch north ot La Junta, which Fuller said will continue to house only boys, and for girls who are part of new programs evolving in the Denver area. One of those programs “Pawsitive Connection” has paired more than 340 girls and boys with dogs to train help them to help people with disabilities.

The boys and girls come from residential treatment centers across the Denver metro area to participate in the animal-assited therapy program provided at CBR YouthConnect facilties.
Fuller said he knows there is a tremendous amount of money available across the nation that CBR YouthConnect can tap into to continue to build its animal-assisted therapy. He also knows many colleges and universities are interested in studying how CBR YouthConnect not only manages the program, but also how it achieves some amazing rates of success in turning around the lives of troubled youth.
Under the guidance of Chuck Thompson, who served many years as the chief administrator at the ranch, still serving president of the CBR Foundation, some other new programs have evolved that might be unfamiliar to folks in the La Junta area.
Fuller said Thompson connected several years ago with Tri-Care, the U.S. military’s primary healthcare provider and insurer, to help serve military families, especially during times of increased deployment of forces overseas, which splits apart families and can increase the need for help with youths. Fuller said Maj. Gen. Arnold R. “Bob” Thomas got excited about that connect and has been a member of the foundation’s board since.
More recently, Thompson and the staff discovered a highly successful youth program in the Philadelphia area called George Jr. Republic. It specializes in “preventative aftercare,” which helps youngsters in the juvenile justice system stay in their homes through a variety of specialized services. The Philadelphia juvenile justice system has helped hundreds of children avoid placement in psychiatric residential treatment facilities.
Thompson brought the program back to Colorado by first sending a group of CBR YouthConnect counselors to Pennsylvania last year to learn how it could be successfully recreated here. Thompson is now introducing the preventative aftercare program to counties across Colorado.
“The judges love it. Social workers love it, and the program is exploding,” Fuller said.
Some things have remained the same here as they always were at the ranch north of La Junta. Bob Cody, a member of the original CBR board of directors, still serves on the CBR Foundation Board. The ranch still has an executive director, Martin Masar, who has demonstrated the ability to make tough choices like his predecessor, Thompson. Under Masar‘s guidance, Colorado Boys Ranch has continued to operate in the black during the current tough economy.
Also under Masar, CBR YouthConnect has continued to maintain its heritage, and will continue to stand for Colorado Boys Ranch, Fuller said.
The rebranding as CBR YouthConnect in 2002 helped establish a new direction for Colorado Boys Ranch, including rebuilding its appeal in Colorado to philanthropic organizations that were most interested in seeing Colorado youth helped.
Under CBR YouthConnect, a unique blend of psychotherapy, environments enriched by animal-based therapy, and neuroscience has evolved to give boys here, and both boys and girls in the Denver area, a well-rounded and balanced therapy experience.
Colorado Boys Ranch today can boast of accreditation from some of the state’s and nation’s leading groups. They include:
– Joint Commission on Accreditation and Healthcare Organization;
– North Central Association Commission on Accreditation of School Improvement;
– TRICARE/TriWest, which provides healthcare services to U.S. military families;
– National Association for Children’s Residential Centers;
– Colorado Association of Family and Children’s Associations; and,
– Colorado Division of Mental Health Certification.
A recent study of former CBR youth reported a 92.5 percent treatment success rate, which was based on eight different criteria, including whether the youth was reunited iwth his family or guardians, or was able to live independently.
That kind of success can be attributed to many factors, including the fact the organization has continued to evolve to meet the needs of a changing society. But Colorado Boys Ranch (CBR YouthConnect) also can trace its success back to its humble beginnings, when it first met the needs of boys who needed a second chance at life, rather than just another long stay inside a cell block.
To read the full story of those humble beginnings, how CBR developed here, and how it changed and imprved through the 1950s, ‘60s, ‘70’s, 80’s and 90’s, pick up a copy of the 50th anniversary edition of “The Rancher,” the publication of Colorado Boys Ranch Foundation.

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This entry was posted on 5. August 2009 at 17:05 and is filed under CBR Staff, Family, Youth, Treatment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.