An Update on Highfields' Residential Treatment Program
Summer 2015 - In This Issue:


"Highfields is a ticket for greatness for people who need help ."
- Jimmy, Residential Treatment Student
(Left to right) Maintenance staff Butch Dashner, residential students Dontrell, Devinci, residential staff Mr. Ivey and residential student Rhishy sit at one of the four tables they built for Highfields' Onondaga Campus.

Brothers Change Their Future With Highfields
Diploma in hand, Dijuan hugs his brothers, Jimmy (right) and Desmond (left).

   Dijuan and Jimmy grew up rough. That's how Dijuan puts it. Their mother struggled with a drug addiction - and with staying out of prison. Their grandmother did her best to take care of them and their younger siblings, but it was hard.

   Dijuan had lost his older brother when he was seven years old. His brother was 22 and acted as a father figure to him. Losing his brother and seeing his mother repeatedly end up in prison left Dijuan confused - and angry.

   "I was a very aggressive person," Dijuan said. "I used to beat people up. I used to smoke and drink. I was in a gang."

   Home invasion and domestic violence are what lead him to Highfields in the fall of 2013. Jimmy followed a year later. At first, they didn't like it.

 

Continue Reading.
"I'm proud of him for graduating. After everything that has happened to us, I didn't think any of us was going to graduate...[Now] I see my brother do it, so
I want to do it, too."
- Jimmy, Highfields' Residential Treatment Student
Family Weekend Brings Families Together
Below, Isaac and Sunshine are happy to be together at home again.
   When Isaac and his mother, Sunshine, were told that Isaac was going to Highfields, they were apprehensive. They didn't know much about it or the people who worked there.
   "I was nervous," Isaac said. "But I also felt good because it was taking me out of the youth center and it would teach me new skills."
   Sunshine began to see the positive side of Isaac's stay, too. She liked that she could go out to the campus and talk to Isaac's family counselor about what was going on.
   "I like how they worked with the kids and the parents; not just the kids," she said. "It was good for both of us."
 
MAAA
Students Learn New Skills

   One of the first things Dontrell noticed when he arrived at Highfields' Onondaga Campus for the Phoenix program was the maintenance team. There were three men who would fix everything around campus. They seemed so knowledgeable - like his dad.

   When Dontrell was a kid, his dad built a house. He asked Dontrell to help and, even though Dontrell thought a house would be too hard to build, once he started to help, he realized he was having fun.

   "I used to think it was boring and too much work," Dontrell said. "But then he showed me how to do it and I realized he knew what he was doing."

   So, when he saw the maintenance team at Highfields, he was intrigued. He wanted to learn how they do what they do.
For more information or to make a referral, please contact:

Brian Philson
CEO/President
(517) 628-2287 ex. 371

Derek Hitchcock
Director of Residential Services
(517) 628-2287 ex. 323

Julie Duffey
Intake Coordinator
(517) 628-2287 ex. 321