An Overview

**Our overall goal is to develop young people who are competent in making good choices themselves, rather than ones who are merely compliant with the choices made by others.

**Telos is licensed by the California Department of Social Services, and has been designated a Rate Level 12 program, out of 14 levels.

**Our capacity is 8 boys, ages 11 to 15.  However, we don't "age out" boys over 15, provided they remain a positive role model for the younger residents.

**We feature a self-esteem building wilderness program, substance abuse treatment, a holistic counseling program, and a structured but supportive family environment.

**Our small size creates an intimate environment, one where each child receives a great deal of personal and professional attention.  Our home-like atmosphere both inspires and motivates healthy growth and program success.  With rare exception, our residents report that they like being at Telos!

**Our philosophy is that it is the quality relationships that are built between staff and the residents that cure. However, we don't eschew therapy, only believe that quality relationships are more important.  Too, we believe that Telos' rules should be ones that easily generalize to the larger society, so that what a residents practices at Telos, will work for him outside of Telos.

**The majority of our staff are mature individuals who have been with our agency many years, and who enjoy the difficult work of getting young men back on track.

**Our staff are taught to manage young men, rather than to seek to control them.

**In house treatment staff consist of a master's level social worker, and a case manager.  Psychiatric and psychological consults are available.  We can supervise psychotropic medications.

**We have contracted with a professional counseling agency in the local community to provide formal counseling to residents with identified needs.

**Telos utilizes five levels (with multiple steps in each level) and a behavior grading system, coupled with monetary rewards and consequences, to motivate residents to make positive changes in behavior, and to inspire cooperative living.

**A wide range of educational services are provided through a full complement of public schools, including a small, high quality Charter School that specializes in managing students with behavioral disorders. Telos does not yet have its own non-public school.

**We have established excellent working relationships with medical, pharmaceutical, and dental providers in the local community, who accept MediCal.