Midwest Center for Youth and Families

Valparaiso, Indiana

2301 Cumberland Drive
Valparaiso, IN 46383

About Midwest Center for Youth and Families

Midwest Center for Youth and Families, located in Valparaiso, Indiana is a private alcohol and drug rehab that offers treatment for a variety of substance abuse addictions including co-occurring mental health disorders. They offer residential care providing long term support for addiction recovery.

Specialty rehab programs at Midwest Center for Youth and Families include age-appropriate treatment for teens addressing adolescent-specific issues, inclusive treatment respecting diverse sexual orientations and gender identities, and accessible addiction treatment using sign language and adapted communication methods.

Payment Options

Medicaid
Private insurance
Self-pay options
Military insurance
Military Insurance

Levels of Care

Inpatient

Residential treatment programs are those that offer housing and meals in addition to substance abuse treatment. Rehab facilities that offer residential treatment allow patients to focus solely on recovery, in an environment totally separate from their lives. Some rehab centers specialize in short-term residential treatment (a few days to a week or two), while others solely provide treatment on a long-term basis (several weeks to months). Some offer both, and tailor treatment to the patient's individual requirements.

Programs

Adolescence program

Hearing impaired program

LGBTQ program

Insurance

Our Policy: Midwest Center for Youth and Families works with several private insurance providers and also accepts private payments when possible, please contact us to verify your specific insurance provider.

Aetna

Blue Cross Blue Shield

Cigna

Humana

UnitedHealth Group

Treatment

Dual Diagnosis

Many of those suffering from addiction also suffer from mental or emotional illnesses like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, or anxiety disorders. Rehab and other substance abuse facilities treating those with a dual diagnosis or co-occurring disorder administer psychiatric treatment to address the person's mental health issue in addition to drug and alcohol rehabilitation.

Mental Health

Mental health rehabs focus on helping individuals recover from mental illnesses like bipolar disorder, clinical depression, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, and more. Mental health professionals at these facilities are trained to understand and treat mental health issues, both in individual and group settings.

Clinical Services

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a therapy modality that focuses on the relationship between one's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. It is used to establish and allow for healthy responses to thoughts and feelings (instead of unhealthy responses, like using drugs or alcohol). CBT has been proven effective for recovering addicts of all kinds, and is used to strengthen a patient's own self-awareness and ability to self-regulate. CBT allows individuals to monitor their own emotional state, become more adept at communicating with others, and manage stress without needing to engage in substance abuse.

Couples Therapy

Whether a marriage or other committed relationship, an intimate partnership is one of the most important aspects of a person's life. Drug and alcohol addiction affects both members of a couple in deep and meaningful ways, as does rehab and recovery. Couples therapy and other couples-focused treatment programs are significant parts of exploring triggers of addiction, as well as learning how to build healthy patterns to support ongoing sobriety.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a modified form of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), a treatment designed to help people understand and ultimately affect the relationship between their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. DBT is often used for individuals who struggle with self-harm behaviors, such as self-mutilation (cutting) and suicidal thoughts, urges, or attempts. It has been proven clinically effective for those who struggle with out-of-control emotions and mental health illnesses like Borderline Personality Disorder.

Experiential Therapy

Experiential therapy is a form of therapy in which clients are encouraged to surface and work through subconscious issues by engaging in real-time experiences. Experiential therapy departs from traditional talk therapy by involving the body, and having clients engage in activities, movements, and physical and emotional expression. This can involve role-play or using props (which can include other people). Experiential therapy can help people process trauma, memories, and emotion quickly, deeply, and in a lasting fashion, leading to substantial and impactful healing.

Family Therapy

Research clearly demonstrates that recovery is far more successful and sustainable when loved ones like family members participate in rehab and substance abuse treatment. Genetic factors may be at play when it comes to drug and alcohol addiction, as well as mental health issues. Family dynamics often play a critical role in addiction triggers, and if properly educated, family members can be a strong source of support when it comes to rehabilitation.

Group Therapy

Group therapy is any therapeutic work that happens in a group (not one-on-one). There are a number of different group therapy modalities, including support groups, experiential therapy, psycho-education, and more. Group therapy involves treatment as well as processing interaction between group members.

Individual Therapy

In individual therapy, a patient meets one-on-one with a trained psychologist or counselor. Therapy is a pivotal part of effective substance abuse treatment, as it often covers root causes of addiction, including challenges faced by the patient in their social, family, and work/school life.

Trauma Therapy

Trauma therapy addresses traumatic incidents from a client's past that are likely affecting their present-day experience. Trauma is often one of the primary triggers and potential causes of addiction, and can stem from child sexual abuse, domestic violence, having a parent with a mental illness, losing one or both parents at a young age, teenage or adult sexual assault, or any number of other factors. The purpose of trauma therapy is to allow a patient to process trauma and move through and past it, with the help of trained and compassionate mental health professionals.

Contact

(888) 629-3471

Website

2301 Cumberland Drive
Valparaiso, IN 46383

Call Now - Help is Available

Get Help Now - 260-243-7545

Reviews

2.82 (25 reviews)

Rehab.com (1)

Google (24)

Google Rating

2.9 (24 reviews)

Kelley Hensler

3 months ago

i just got out a month ago and have rly conflicted feelings. it was borderline abusive on some days and amazing on others. the dbt program was so involded to the point where they would put you in sitatuions on purpose to see if u can use ur skills. i had got jumped and staff did not care. their was ignorded rascim and staff abuse. we got withheld things a couple times but rewared others. i was on bobs or black out boundries with over 6 people for no reason but other people could tag team and no one would care. brendan aneta tommy peggy heather rondha jenny cloe jennette mary candece and kathy changed my life. i will never forget feeling human because of their efforts. however ebony and cella made our lives a living hell. they constantly sexulized and abused us. i did feel brendan our shift corndinator took time to understand. he felt me on a deeper level. i processed with him everyday because he was blunt and helped me figured out a soloution. i very honestly would never send my kid here but it did somewhat help me in few areas n make me 1000 times worse in others.

Angeline Gabby Aleksov

5 months ago

I went here when i was 13. I am 24 now. I met some great people who had their issues but deep down they helped me grow into who i am now, they taught me very good skills that i still use today like DEARMAN. They let us get school work done and have fun in gym class. They were wonderful with issues and adressed them appropriately. I am so happy to finally leave a good review after all these years. This wasnt the place i wanted to be when i was 13 cutting myself being suicidal, but they helped me grow into who i am today, i was only there for a month because of insurance reasons. But they had great ling term care. My only complaint is that they could upgrade the food and milk, the milk tended to be spoiled most days back then, but it may be completely different now, i wish the staff and everyone who knew me the best of luck

Niv Z

This program is extremely adaptable, it is up to the residents to help create the environment they need to grow in.I was at SSA for nearly four months, and there I (as well as my family) have learned absolutely the most therapeutically there compared to anywhere else. Any other 1:1 therapist, any other group therapy, inpatient, IOP, rehab, anything. This program fully immerses you inside of a place of DBT and support. There are 100% difficult times here, as there are anywhere, and at the same time, there are constantly tools provided to assist with these times.You hear horror stories of residentials locking adolescents in their rooms, starving them, refusing to engage or provide helpful tools to them, restraining unnecessarily, using them to clean/as tools etc- but this is NOT one of those places.This place is SAFE. This means the necessities. AND THEN THEY HAVE MORE.Like I said, this program is very adaptable. Every group of adolescents that comes in has a say in the adjustment of the growing experience here. This ranges from just voicing your opinion in general, to leveling up and becoming a member of what they call resident council. Resident council makes changes to how the floor is run with the staff and helps teach the skills.This was something I commonly did. I made changes on the unit for my group, I lead informational groups and games all the time.There are resident lead groups, BHW groups, therapy groups, nursing groups, pet and equine therapy- and more.Here you are allowed to have fun, to engage and live and progress, but this means working the program. You can't hide things here, fake your way through, stay blunted. You will not have a good experience here if you can't work the program. And that will be part of it for a lot of people, having to go here to learn HOW TO open themselves up and be part of the program. It does take time to regulate to it, but being willing is important. At some point.A lot of these other reviews are pulling the negatives from the positives. This is likely the safest place in a several state radius for any adolescent. There are caring staff here, someone your child WILL click with and find as their safe person, and it will be okay for them. It has been extremely helpful and educational for me, and my family.Brendon, the shift coordinator for the South Shore unit, is extremely well educated and skillful. He's been working in mental health for 10+ years. He is trained very thoroughly in DBT- and more areas of therapy. Everyone that comes here will always remember him, there's no doubt about that. He leaves an educational mark on just about anyone. He will consistently lead BHW groups, teaching residents and even staff about useful DBT skills, takes residents to equine therapy, he leads the resident council activities, and more.I frequently call back onto the unit floor and talk to him, as well as other staff members. They are consistently there for old and new residents.Cloe Carda, a therapist here, is THE MOST wise, well-spoken, helpful, skillful, and caring person I have met. She has been solely the most supportive person there to me and many others. She is always willing to take on every situation she is faced with, and she is more than prepared to do so. I've never been more impressed with any mental health professional. I actually miss her each day, and I'm more than thankful I met her and the Midwest team.

Jaede Russo

I was 20 when I was at SSA in 2011. Firstly, I want to say that DBT and CBT, when you are autistic and have c-ptsd is glorified self gaslighting and is extremely harmful. I was diagnosed with bipolar at 12, BPD at 18. Both of those diagnosis were manipulated by my mother who is narcissistic and has Munchausen by proxy (a result from her being raised in a faith healing cult and having me at 15) both diagnosis I spent very little time with the therapists and she spent hours explaining what her viewpoints were.In 2019 my diagnosis were retracted as a misdiagnosis and replaced with autism and c-ptsd.South shore academy works on a tiered system with levels of privileges. To gain a new tier you have to be passed by your peers, then your caregivers, and finally the therapist. Being surrounded by 14 and 15 year old peers, if the group doesn't like you you don't get passed. I was kept against my will for 4 months. (I had signed myself in and I was a legal adult with no court orders to be there)My therapist wanted to keep me there for a whole year, with no reason. Now mind you, my mother was my payee and had manipulated me into agreement of going by saying she would not pay for me to have an apartment using my disability (my money not hers) making me choose between this program and homelessness.During the duration of my stay, I was forced to attend their "school" program (I had already graduated) so I had to sit doing absolutely nothing quietly for 7 hours. My parents were taught the same program I was, which taught my abuser more effective ways to manipulate both myself and others and to abuse me more efficiently.For those who may not know, BPD is caused by trauma, and South shore works with a lot of kids who have BPD based on familial abuse. Bpd is generally not diagnosed until after 18, so those diagnosed prior have a higher likelihood of being misdiagnosed. If the clients going through this program are more likely to have familial abuse, why are they putting family through a program that can be used to learn to manipulate and abuse more efficiently?At month 4 of being in this program I had finally passed the first "level". This gave me the right to use the bathroom privately and to leave the facility for outings to the gym and to have family passes. Within a week of reaching this level, my mother called in and told the staff that they were not going to be coming for visits that next two weeks because they were going on vacation. She told them to put me on suicide watch, which dropped my level immediately, without reason to believe I would be suicidal.This facility has left mental scars so deep that I am still working through them at 33, and gave my mother the ability to manipulate me into giving her my only child for adoption as well as getting me sterilized at 23. She was able to manipulate the Dr. Using the same methods taught at this facility.The only way I was able to leave was by requesting to see the medical director. He talked to me for 30 minutes and looked at my chart. He said there was no indication I should have ever been there, and no indication I should have not been released after 30 days.Parents-PLEASE- for the sake of your child's mental health though the rest of their life- DO NOT TRUT THIS FACILITY WITH YOU CHILDRENS MENTAL AND EMOTIONAL HEALTH. YOU WILL DO MORE HARM THAN YOU WILL EVER UNDERSTAND.

Leah Ponzi

7 months ago

I went to this facility at the age of 16. I am 25 now and wanted to get the chance to finally share my feelings on this facility. On the schedule, it said that we would be going to the YMCA once a week every Wednesday and an outing every Saturday. The whole 60 days I was there, we never went to the YMCA. We had to do something called DEARMAN every week to ask for something. I would usually ask every single time, to go to the YMCA because I loved swimming and it was a great outlet for me. The first week, if you had history of self harm and or suicidal thoughts, the staff had a foot in the door and watch you use the restroom. As far as having privacy, there was none. I wasn't allowed to call anyone while I was there only my parents, I couldn't call any family members. The phone calls were timed and listened into. You were punished over everything. THEY HAD US WATCH THE SHOW INTERVENTION WHERE IT SHOWS PEOPLE USING DRUGS, CUTTING THEMSELVES, MAKING THEMSELVES THROW UP. They expected us to not have any self harm or drug use urges after watching such a graphic triggering show and we were punished for it. We had to take DBT/CBT test and study for them and if you failed, you had even more privileges taken away. If one person acts out everyone else is punished as well. When we transitioned from room to room we had to line up with OUR ARMS BEHIND OUR BACKS and count off ONE MAAM, TWO MAAM, THREE MAAM and so on! Military style like. We had only TWO OUTINGS the whole 60 days I was there. We weren't allowed in our rooms during the day, only to sleep at night. The night staff would talk about the clients creating a list of clients of who would survive at the nearby juvenile facility KOUTS that was apparently even worse and they made sure to tell us how lucky we were that we were in this facility rather than KOUTS because in their words we wouldn't survive and we would have no freedom. We did get to go outside, but it was in a caged in area. I was told before I went that I would have more freedom than inpatient. That was a lie. I had more freedom at the inpatient at rogers in oconomowoc wisconsin than the residential at south shore academy. Don't send your kid here please. It makes me sad to read reviews of this place and how it hasn't changed. I feel like this place will be the next one to get shut down. You should never shame someone for having mental health/self harm/drug abuse/trauma issues EVER. Your child is going to have more problems and troubles as an adult if you send them to this place. The only staff member that treated me like a human being was bobbi/bobitha I think her name was. Super long hair. She was empathetic and validating. If your child is troubled, give them extra love and take a self-evaluation as a parent and look at how you could be contributing to their behavior. There is a reason they are acting out. Listen to them, don't send them away.

Leelee T

God i can t even tell you how terrifying this place was, i faked my entire way through it and came out WORSE than i came in, we got punished or every little thing, and any teeny tiny slip up got all of our very few rights taken away. Heather and Cella were extremely two faced and were the scariest women i ve ever met in my life. whenever you come to the staff about a negative thought you re having you get punished, it s all just punishment for being mentally ill. i ve been discharged for almost a month and i m still hearing horror stories from my peers. it s extremely isolated and if one person in the group does something bad the entire group gets punished, i was terrified my whole stay there, i still have nightmares about this place. the staff handles acuities TERRIBLY and yell at the residents constantly, the food was always disgusting and cold and the staff wouldn t hesitate to refuse you food if you talked back to them. everything about this place is a nightmare.one resident got put on precautions for a fingernail and staff constantly talked bad about you, my therapist talked over me during family sessions and laughed at an apology letter i read out during a family session. you weren t allowed to talk bad about staff or the facility on phone calls or they wouldn t let you talk to your family, my roommate once got in trouble for saying they felt secluded and all the staff YELLED at them, the one time we were able to have a little fun and have a party in the community room other residents who had been punished and not allowed to come to the party came banging on the door cursing at us an all we could hear was screaming outside the door, we were also promised sparkling grape juice and special treats, which we didn t get. now let s discuss the school situation, so i ve never had the privilege of going to school, did the teacher help me? well yes, for one day. on my very last day the teacher finally decided to help me because i started sobbing at the thought of going home a failure, for my whole month and a half stay she taught me nothing, she handed me work i ve never learned and said "just try to finish it . we also rarely had toilet paper cause the staff refused to refill it cause "it s too much work and they d yell at us for using paper towel cause the toilets clog, how nice is that? idk what your child would have to do to deserve being sent here but they would have to be an absolute demon child cause man THIS PLACE SUCKS! (btw in response to the one review saying the negative reviews are only from younger girls, i am 17 <3)

Alex Brown

9 months ago

South shore made me wanna giggle in an angry way, kept telling me I was masking because I said I felt fine. Wack as heckers man.

madalynn woodcock

11 months ago

LOVE THIS PLACE GIVE EVERYONE A RAISE THEY ARE LIVE SAVERS

Mads

1 year ago

I went to this place for 30 days and would not recommend. Here's why: very triggering environment, staff shortages meaning lack of therapeutic services, and personally learned new methods of self injury here. It could be good for some but honestly made me worse. Some staff were amazing and helped me through tough times! Safety wise they were fairly effective. I only went out 3 times in my 30 day stay and didn't love the level system. Would recommend finding a different residential for your child if you'd like more therapeutic services.

Maddy

LIFE SAVER (literally) I was here from Jan 2023 to march 2023, I ve been forever changed for the better, thank you to all of the staff

Lynsey Lorch

This facility is horrendous!! I went there when I was 13 and that place still haunts me to this day. The staff was not supportive and almost scary at some points. I understand it's a mental health facility and it needs rules and such but it was beyond restrictive. My parents were told it was a very calm environment where we could go outside...I left that facility 3 times the entire three months I was there. We had exercise but it was very old workout videos we did in a tiny space inside. It had a general depressive vibe and I STRONGLY recommend sending your child to another facility because they lied about many aspects of their program. I still have such vivid memories of patients being tackled and they didn't even give the sedative in a private setting, everyone was witness to it and it was so terrifying seeing that as a teenager. This place should be shut down bc it is not a place where you can heal and get the help you need, it's a highly restrictive environment that will most likely harm your child than help. If you have the option, send your child somewhere else!!

Summer Shymanski

Wonderful facility with great staff! People posting negative reviews are just young girls who did not like being in a residential setting. I was in this facility for 43 days when I was 14 (almost 15) and it helped me tremendously!! Couldn't recommend a better place! The staff were amazing (especially morning staff) and the skills were used regularly. The staff never taught us how to use the skills though, they gave us a big binder and we has to do it ourselves.

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