Our nation’s history with the treatment of mental health is steeped in practices that criminalized and institutionalized individuals diagnosed with mental illness; it further engaged in cruel procedures and practices, such as lobotomy, isolation, and medical and physical restraint, and more recently conversion therapy. People of color, women, LGBTQ+ individuals, and those experiencing poverty have been disproportionately harmed by the mental health system – a system intended to be protective.
As mental health services have evolved in the U.S., YAP continues to work with our systems partners to provide community-based program delivery alternatives that improve wellbeing for youth and their parents/guardians and other individuals facing behavioral health challenges, individually and as a family unit. Our services are rooted in the principles of self-determination, trauma-informed care, cultural responsiveness, wellness and recovery, and community inclusion.
YAP provides culturally responsive community-based services as an alternative to out-of-home behavioral health care. YAP contracts with mental health systems, managed care organizations and private insurers to provide both fee-for-service and case rate Medicaid reimbursed services.
Among YAP’s behavioral and mental health services are programs that specialize in working with individuals with autism spectrum disorders, cross-system (justice and child welfare program) youth, and individuals who have experienced trauma.