Transition

What is Transition?

Transition at Copper Canyon Academy is one of the most informative and useful tools we have for assessment. We believe that the safest way to test the strength of the new behaviors in the student's life is to provide opportunities that more closely resemble the "real life" environment the student will encounter upon her return home.

By allowing the student supervised encounters with less structured situations, behaviors that no longer show up in the structured life of the school may come to the surface. This type of organized approach to observing and assessing behavior provides the treatment team with a significant tool for determining the level of internalization of desired behavior changes and provides the student with an opportunity to slowly ease her way back home.

It is important that students are provided with learning opportunities that ease their way from the strict structure of daily life in a program to the looser structure of life at home. Transition is an important component that provides assessment and support as the student works to apply and internalize all that they have learned from the program. Transition provides a bridge between the institutional structure and the structure at home.

The CCA transition program is set up as an assessment and evaluative tool in our treatment sequence. When students have proven that they have identified changes that need to be made, have made the changes within the context of the setting, and then have practiced the changes over time, they become eligible to enter the transition part of the program. Usually, but not always, this takes place during Level III of the program.

Each student in transition has an opportunity to integrate with a small group (usually about six) of other students, including students from other dorms, in an on-campus transition home overseen by a senior CCA staff member. In attempting to re-create an environment similar to the family life at home, transition students form a living unit and are expected to take part in group activities (grocery shopping, eating out, movies, hikes, excursions, etc.). She continues to abide by the program rules as well as the rules set up by each household.

She is given chores, homework, and other duties she needs to accomplish in order to continue her transition process. The students are expected to be organized and plan their daily responsibilities. This includes therapy, schoolwork, and even their work hours if they obtain a job while in transition. It is the responsibility of the transition parent to follow up with the student's responsibilities and to ensure that they arrive on time to all activities and meetings sponsored by CCA. It is also the responsibility of the transition parent to inform the treatment team of all progress and any problematic behavior difficulties that are encountered while the student is in their home.

Transition lasts from four to six weeks, depending on the issues and the progress each student makes. During the transition period weekly assessment sheets are completed by the transition parents and are then reported to the treatment team, therapists, and parents/guardians. The transition parents are also available for consultation as needed by parents/guardians, should any concerns arise.

An organized approach to observing and assessing behavior provides the treatment team with a significant tool for determining the level of internalization of desired behavior changes. If serious problems arise while the student is living in transition, she can move back into the higher structure of the school setting to work through the problem and plan for her return to transition. We feel that this approach provides significant benefit to the student and her family as well as giving the treatment team a valuable measure of the student's progress.

Because the transition program is in a staff member's on-campus home, and involves more excursions off-campus than usual, students will be transported in CCA vehicles both to and from school and on transition activities. Vehicles are inspected for safety and record of insurance. A safe driving record is required and only senior staff members with at least one year's tenure are allowed to do transition. They are thoroughly screened and are in frequent contact with the student's therapist and the Program Director regarding the student's progress in transition.