Our vision is of a therapeutic community, a village where children find a place to belong and grow, where they can create identity through lasting relationships with caring adults, where they find a home for the heart and spirit, a place of healing and hope.
Youth Development Institute is a private, not-for-profit corporation providing rehabilitation and treatment services for youth and their families.
Our mission is to provide developmental, educational and economic opportunities for disadvantaged and troubled youth so that they may mature into responsible and successful adults. Youth Development Institute is also a laboratory where effective practices in the field of child and youth care work can be documented, demonstrated and disseminated.
At a nine acre campus in central Phoenix, Youth Development Institute (YDI) provides intensive and specialized treatment for youth referred by the Arizona Juvenile Courts and/or by other state youth placing agencies (Behavioral Health, Department of Child Safety, etc.) for emotional problems and/or serious behavior disorders. The locked 84-bed residential program is licensed by the Office of Behavioral Health as a Level I residential facility and for outpatient services, including assessment, counseling, behavior management and psychosocial rehabilitation.
Also at this campus, YDI operates group homes and supervised apartment living for up to 48 youth who do not require the security of a locked residential facility, but for whom continued treatment of underlying emotional problems and serious behavior disorders requires long term placement. Many of these youth have been removed from their own homes by the Department of Child Safety and will be prepared for independent living. The campus is also approved by the Arizona Department of Education as a Special Function School, providing special and regular academic education to youth in residence.