Our Range of Services
New Directions offers 22 services, serving children and families throughout New York State and beyond. With such a broad array of resources available, we're able to match your child with the most appropriate care designed to establish an effective therapeutic relationship, capitalize on strengths, build character, and provide the necessary skills for adulthood.
We take great pride in the care that we provide. Our services are nationally recognized by the Council on Accreditation. Our staff is professional, compassionate, and consistently available to discuss your child’s treatment and progress. And we emphasize both Trauma Informed Treatment and Empirically Supported Treatments to ensure the best results in the shortest time possible.
In addition to our main groups of service areas – campuses and group homes, foster care and adoption, education, prevention – we also offer specialized services when clinically indicated.
Specialized therapies include:
Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TFCBT)Drug and alcohol counseling
Attachment therapy
Dyadic development psychotherapy
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
Play therapy
Family therapy
Mentoring
Family advocacy
Adventure recreation
Family Peer Support Services
New Directions Family Peer Advocates provide Family Peer Support Services to parents and caregivers of youth who are experiencing mental health or behavior challenges. Our team of parent professionals support parents by providing a “peer” service, meaning the service provider is someone who has lived experience raising a child with a mental health diagnosis.
Health Home Care Management
A Health Home helps you coordinate all the services that your family is receiving. From medical care, to counseling, to social services, our goal is to have everyone working as a team for you.
Foster Care
Every child deserves a "Forever Home"! Our services help many children to re-unite with their birth family, while for other children we actively seek and support adoptive families.
Prevention
Strong, capable families are at the heart of every community. Our services help communities maintain their quality of life by providing assistance while problems are still manageable.
Residential Care & Group Homes
A therapeutic setting where educational, clinical, recreational, and daily living activities are designed to provide guidance, promote positive choices, and motivate personal growth.
Equestrian Program
Our Equestrian Program offers Equine-Assisted Therapy for the youth at New Directions. Horses have a unique sensitivity to people’s feelings and can support participants by encouraging greater confidence and self-esteem, better communication skills, improved self-regulation, a sense of trust, a more realistic self-image, the ability to focus on others, stronger social skills, and feelings of connection.
Adventure Recreation
Fun, safe and kinetic activities experienced through challenge and play. Reconnecting to the fundamentals of childhood often provides an outlet for growth, healing, success and reconciliation.
Education
Building innovative school communities where all students can learn, grow and prepare for a lifetime of success!
Children’s Clinic of WNY
The Children’s Clinic of WNY provides outpatient mental health counseling and psychiatry services for children and adolescents, ages 5-21, and families living in Niagara and Erie Counties.
Our Facilities
Safe places full of hope, healing, inspiration and opportunity
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Positive Outcomes
Samia's Story
Hi, my name is Samia. Let me start off by telling you a little about myself and my experience. At the age of 14, I was suddenly removed from my home and placed into residential care. Two years later, I ended up at Randolph Children's Home with everything I owned. I was absolutely miserable and confused. I had just been moved from one placement to another three days before I turned sixteen. It took me some time to fit in, to trust those around me, to learn the program and to understand why I'm was there and my reasoning for being on this path. I gravitated toward a few peers and teachers who helped me to learn the five norms. These norms are Respect, Responsibility, Safety, Being Goal-Directed and The Classroom is Sacred. These norms all reflect each other and one cannot work without the other four.
While at school I focused being respectful. Respect is an essential part of human life. What we do when we respect someone is that we recognize their value. When you disrespect someone you are really do nothing other than saying to someone "you are not valuable." "You are not worthy." Respecting others is a silent way to express our feeling for them. It's an unspoken way of communication which builds unshaken and strong relations between people respecting each other. When a person shows respect for someone, then it means that the person has some value for them.
It wasn't until the last about eight months, that I became a positive leader and began helping other peers confront negative behaviors in class and on unit. I found value in helping those around me.
Since being discharged on my eighteenth birthday I have graduated from high school, moved to Buffalo, got my own apartment and began working for for a social service agency. I work in a group home setting with intellectually disabled individuals. When the individuals I work with feel disrespected or unsafe, they become unstable and aren't able to move forward. Although I'm there to support them, It is still their job to collect themselves and be responsible. I know that it was frustrating, that these norms were so heavily encouraged, but I've found that they do carry into your every day life.
I promise you, that when you leave care, and you're doing well for yourself, you will remember the times you cried yourself to sleep or begged your judge to send you home, but VERY faintly. You'll want to come back and visit because you're so grateful of the teachers and staff that showed you a little love & discipline to help you along the way. And when you do come back, do it with something to show. Show everyone that you made it, and that the time you spent here at the home and at the Academy, helped you to get where you are. Shout out the pain you experienced for making you as understanding and as knowledgeable as you've become.
READ THEIR STORY