North Star Summer Program

Program goals:

  • Provide children and youth who have completed kindergarten through sixth grade the opportunity to learn or practice life skills.

  • Provide some structure through summer months by having meetings two times a week for three hours a meeting (six hours per week)

  • Provide a safe and nurturing environment where children learn through therapeutic interactions with trained professional staff

  • Improve the level of functioning of clients in their homes and communities.

  • Increase the level of client employment and related activities, including volunteer work, competitive employment, occasional employment and sheltered employment.

  • Improve the psychiatric stability of clients and residents served in the program.Improve the ability of clients and residents to secure and maintain decent and affordable housing.

The North Star Summer Program was launched in 1994
Since 1994 the North Star Summer Program has been a:

  • Partnership between schools and agencies serving youth

  • 10-week summer program designed to build Life Skills and provide a routine for children diagnosed with a mental health issue or those at risk

  • therapeutic skills-building program utilizing activities done in a safe and nurturing environment

  • program with 16 host sites serving six counties; a host site is where meetings are held and are open enrolled

  • program where each site is staffed by degreed professionals in human services to provide services for twenty youth

  • curriculum designed specifically for North Star by the staff each year, adapting best practice approaches to fit the geographic area

  • parents/relatives are encouraged to provide transportation, if funding permits bus routes are established with schools

Typical daily structure for therapeutic skills building:

  • Staff planning meeting prior to youth arriving

  • Daily written plan and formal check-in

  • "Starting the Day" Circle and Orientation

  • Community gathering and skills-building wellness snacks activity

  • Skill of the day lesson activity

  • Applied lesson using art medium

  • Structured physical activity using day's lesson

  • "Ending the Day" Circle and closure

  • Staff debriefing and evaluation after youth leave

For more information please contact:
Rich Mosher
(218) 686-6088
rmosher@nwmhc.org

This page is sponsored in part by the Northwestern Mental Health Center and the Our Children Succeed Initiative.