Life Skills Center

The primary goal of the Life Skills Center is rooted in the work of creating a place for at-risk youth to learn new skills, create opportunities for community integration, and seek whole family well-being. Oesterlen’s LSC provides goal-directed supports and solution-focused interventions, oriented around client treatment plans. The main objective in LSC programming is to provide restoration and education in social and interpersonal skills, as well as establish the foundations for positive functioning in daily life. This includes, managing one’s social and physical environment, balancing the demands of family life, educational responsibilities, and job-readiness skills.  The LSC’s focus on the development of hand-based skills and creativity (such as wood craft, horticultural therapy, and animal husbandry) is especially appropriate as a means of providing a non-threatening process of communication and therapeutic accompaniment, acting as a healing process.  Similarly, recreation and “Adventure Training” provides an environment for our clients to develop a positive self-image and a renewed sense of one’s abilities, while also improving social skills and problem solving.  LSC staff are trained in therapeutic crisis intervention with the goal of restoring positive habits and practices to manage the risk of negative behavioral triggers in a community setting. This holistic approach to treatment provides a unique and non-abstracted sense of dignity and self-worth, leading to a foundation for self-determination and community integration.

For more information, contact the Coordinator of the Life Skills Program at 937-399-6101