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Therapeutic and Clinical Services

UCAN offers Therapeutic Day School and provides a Therapeutic Youth Home along with a core of counseling services for families suffering separation, violence and abuse.

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Behavioral Health Services

UCAN makes me feel important and I've never really felt important. I was just looking for a hug and someone to tell me it will be ok. UCAN being there felt like a hug and the piece that was missing.

Katie, UCAN Behavioral Health Services

UCAN’s Behavioral Health Services provide outpatient therapy to people who have experienced trauma. Working with youth, adults and families in a variety of settings, UCAN’s culturally diverse counselors and youth development specialists help consumers address such complex issues as abuse, neglect, behavioral problems, separation and loss. We create individualized treatment plans to meet their needs.
Our core services include:
Family Separation / Disruption: Specialized therapy services to individuals and families affected by the trauma of separation and loss (e.g., loss of custody, death of a parent or child, divorce).
Family / Community Violence: Individual, group, couples and family therapy.
Sexual Abuse: Intervention, education and support to people who have suffered sexual abuse, for other family members impacted by the abuse, and for those who have committed sexual abuse.

The UCAN Behavioral Health Services  program serves all consumers regardless of inability to pay. Discounts for essential services are offered based on family size and income. For more information about our services or to make a referral, please contact our intake coordinator at ucancounseling@ucanchicago.org or 773.429.9346.

Diermeier Therapeutic Youth Home

Diermeier Therapeutic Youth Home

UCAN’s Diermeier Therapeutic Youth Home provides a structured, stable and therapeutic living arrangement for youth in the care of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. The home works primarily with children and young adults ages 7-18 who have histories of severe trauma, abuse and neglect. Because of their past experience, the youth are in need of a highly structured, 24-hour-a-day treatment facility to address the behavioral and emotional difficulties that surround their previous exposure to trauma and abuse.

Young people in the Diermeier Therapeutic Youth Home are offered a wide variety of individualized and group treatment services to aid them in healing and gaining the social and coping skills to graduate from treatment and move to a less restrictive setting.

In summer 2015, youth served by UCAN moved into a new, state-of-the-art facility in Chicago’s North Lawndale community. The modern 54,000 square-foot facility is located on the organization’s new campus at Fillmore and Central Park avenues and provides a safe place for our youth to heal. For more information, please email us at info@ucanchicago.org.

UCAN conducts business in accordance with the Federal Fair Housing Law.

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Phenomenal Woman

Phenomenal Woman is a female mentoring program, the name of which is inspired by a Maya Angelou poem. This program is offered as a means to help young ladies navigate the sometimes difficult journey into womanhood. Through participation in group mentoring workshops, young ladies will:

  • Strengthen their self-esteem through self-affirmation and healthy self-image development
  • Learn how to approach relationships in ways that are healthy and supportive and create positive experiences
  • Spend time thinking about their future and imagining greatness for themselves
  • Have access to an adult coach who can offer guidance and be an objective listener
  • Eligibility: Young women between the ages of 13-24

For more information, please e-mail ucancounseling@ucanchicago.org.

I participate in Phenomenal Woman because it’s a community where I can relate to and find people of all ages that talk about the real world and what goes on in it.

Daniela, Phenomenal Woman

Project Visible Man

Project Visible Man is a male mentoring program, the name of which is inspired by a Ralph Ellison’s writings “Invisible Man”. This program is offered as a means to help young men navigate the sometimes difficult journey into Manhood. Through participation in group mentoring workshops, young men will:

  • Strengthen their self-esteem through self-affirmation and healthy self-image development
  • Learn how to develop relationships in ways that are healthy and supportive and create positive experiences
  • Spend time thinking about their future and imagining greatness for themselves
  • Meet professional men of color who will share their stories and provide inspiration
  • Have access to an adult coach who can offer guidance and be an objective listener
  • Eligibility: Young men between the ages of 12-24

For more information, please e-mail ucancounseling@ucanchicago.org.

UCAN Academy

UCAN Academy, comprised of two campuses across Chicago, is an innovative 1st through 12th grade year-round therapeutic day school. A special education curriculum is used by experienced staff to help students who have experienced difficulties in previous school settings and who benefit from a smaller, more individualized classroom setting. As the largest and one of the most recognized therapeutic day schools in the area, each child enrolled in UCAN Academy comes to us with a unique set of needs. We use a staff-intense environment for more one-on-one attention. Our students, while coming from diverse and distinct backgrounds, have all experienced difficulties in public or private school settings. Many have become discouraged about learning. We help them to see schooling in a positive light and to reach their highest potential.

Our Core Mission states that “UCAN Academy aims to meet the unique educational, social, and emotional needs of our diverse learners in order to achieve success.” Teaching behavioral expectations and appropriate responses is an important aspect of assisting students whose behavior has interfered with their participation in a traditional public-school setting. The Academy’s behavior management program incorporates PBIS, Restorative Justice, Behavior Referrals & Resolutions, Response to Intervention (RtI), and Sensory Supports to aide students in maintaining relationships with others as well as allowing them to focus on their academics in a safe environment. The emphasis is on teaching positive expectations and re-teaching appropriate coping skills as needed. This incorporates coaching students to self-regulate, self-reflect, self-monitor as well as to advocate for their needs. Students are provided a small, structured setting with certified professional staff who are trained in Therapeutic Crisis Intervention