The Youth Crisis Center at Lighthouse Youth Services serves approximately 1000 young people each year with twenty percent of those youth returning more than one time. Many of those young people are able to return home in less than six hours. Those who stay longer average 3 to 5 days in residence. The maximum length of stay is 14 days.

All admissions to the Youth Crisis Center are voluntary. Any resident who wishes to leave may do so, although all residents are urged to leave only when they have a plan to do so safely. Some residents – those twelve years and younger or those likely to be at increased risk on their own – must have their parent’s approval to leave on their own.

Teen mothers (through 17 years of age) with children are eligible for admission when host homes are available. Host homes are “borrowed” from our Foster Care and Adoptions Division and are not always available. Teen mothers in need of shelter and emergency services should call the youth crisis line at 513-961-4080 to discuss their situation.

Parents of unaccompanied youth are contacted within twenty-four hours of the youth’s arrival at the Youth Crisis Center in almost all circumstances. Parents have the right to decide whether their children may remain at the facility or if they should return home immediately. Crisis counseling is available for every family undergoing disruption. Young people do not need to be residents of the Youth Crisis Center for families to request crisis counseling. Any family or young person may request crisis counseling by calling the youth crisis line at 513-961-4080, twenty-four hours per day, every day. All young people who make allegations of physical or sexual abuse from a parent or caretaker are immediately referred to 241-KIDS (Hamilton County Department of Jobs and Family Services – Investigations).

In general, young people who have an outstanding warrant must clear the warrant before becoming a resident at the Youth Crisis Center. Juvenile Court warrants can only be cleared by going to the Juvenile Court Intake Department at 2020 Auburn Avenue. Young people who have outstanding “runaway” warrants (and no other warrants) and who wish to reunify with their family may come directly to the Youth Crisis Center. A family session will be held and the warrant will be “cleared” (that means a court date will be set) by telephone. Young people who choose this option must go through the Youth Crisis Center intake process.

During the school year all residents attend their home school if that is possible. Residents are expected to use public transportation to and from school. Those who cannot attend their home school attend class at the Youth Crisis Center. Those students not enrolled or in unusual academic situations work with the Adolescent Manager from Project Connect – a program that specializes in education for homeless children.

Every young person who enters the Youth Crisis Center undergoes a crisis intervention intake process. This one to two hour process is intended to ensure that the youth is safe, to define the parameters of the particular crisis that the youth is undergoing, to understand the conditions that have given rise to this crisis and to develop a plan. This plan ensures the youth’s continued safety, addresses the current crisis and sets out a strategy for the youth and family to address the underlying causes of the crisis. A Youth Worker usually performs the initial intake. Youth Workers are highly trained individuals who specialize in positive youth development. Each resident is also assigned to a licensed Social Worker who works further with the youth and family to develop and begin implementing the young person’s plan.

A typical day at the Youth Crisis Center includes: getting up in time to get to school (5:30 to 6:30 am), showers, making beds and cleaning rooms, breakfast – off to school. All residents of the Youth Crisis Center are eligible for free lunch at school under the Ohio Free Lunch program. When they return from school, individual tutoring services are available plus an extensive after school program which – depending on the day of the week - includes creative writing, ceramic arts, ecological art, video scrap booking – all led by professional artists – as well as weekly field trips to museums, art galleries and other educational settings. Dinner is at about six, followed by household chores (everyone pitches in), then group time – usually a prevention and education or community group – free time and bed (10:00 pm). Residents are given the opportunity to wash their clothes, do homework and prepare for the next day. All of this is interspersed with phone calls home and to friends, visits with the assigned social worker and individual and family conferences.

The Youth Crisis Center is not a respite center. Some young people and their families have safety plans that includes the condition that the youth will come to the Youth Crisis Center in order to avoid some unsafe situation such as family violence. But the normal, healthy place for young people is in the safety of their own homes, with their own families. The Youth Crisis Center’s role in the community is to provide safety and care for young people only when this is not possible. The Youth Crisis Center operates as a runaway and homeless youth shelter under the authority of the Hamilton County Community Mental Health Board as described in ORC 5119.64-68. The Youth Crisis Center is certified as having met minimum standards by the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless and meets all operating standards for a basic center as set out by the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act. The Youth Crisis Center is accredited by CARF International to provide Crisis Intervention.

Other resources:

National Runaway Switchboard