Youth Care is a licensed residential treatment center dedicated to helping young women ages 11-18 years old who are experiencing emotional or behavioral problems including depression, mental health issues, and/or drug or alcohol abuse. Denice Dunker, Director of Admissions is proud to announce the addition of Pam Vandenaker to their staff as their new Utilization Review and Referral Communications Coordinator.
Pam Vandenaker has worked as a therapist at Youth Care over the past five years. Her professional experience also includes clinical work in psychiatric hospitals, medical hospitals as a crisis social worker, outpatient mental health clinics, and drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs. Pam has taught courses at the University of Phoenix, has had extensive training in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, and has designed programs for adolescents in partial hospitalization in Utah, and dual diagnosis (and unmotivated) adults in Arizona using a motivational approach and the stages of change. After spending two years as a care manager in behavioral health at Aetna, Pam returned to Pine Ridge Academy, Youth Care's step down program, and most recently, accepted the position of Utilization Review/Referral Communications Coordinator in the Admissions Department.
Youth Careis a program of Aspen Education Group, the nation's leading provider of therapeutic education programs for struggling or underachieving young people. As part of the Aspen continuum, Youth Care offers a highly structured, clinically integrated, and academically robust safe and secure home like setting for young women who are experiencing behavioral problems including mental health issues, and or drug and alcohol abuse or depression. Aspen's services range from short-term intervention programs to residential treatment, and include a variety of therapeutic settings such as boarding schools, outdoor behavioral health programs and special needs summer camps, allowing professionals and families the opportunity to choose the best setting to meet a student's unique academic and emotional needs.
Aspen Education Groupis a member of CRC Health Group, the most comprehensive network of specialized behavioral care services in the nation. For over two decades, CRC Health has been achieving successful outcomes for individuals and families.