Summit Youth Services Center

About Summit Youth Services Center

Summit Youth Services Center (SYSC) , which is located on the Campus at Lookout Mountain in Golden, is an intensive secure treatment program for males committed by the District Court to the Division of Youth Services. Summit serves youth from across the state and is designed to meet the needs of Colorado's highest-risk youth.

Summit offers comprehensive services to committed youth and their families. Using the Division of Youth Services Treatment Model, along with cognitive behavioral and social learning models, Summit's programming provides an environment where therapeutic and strength-based relationships develop. Programming within the center is highly structured to allow youth to develop and practice skills learned in individual and group sessions with their assigned behavioral health specialist.

Youth progress through a phase system designed to track their growth through the elements of their personalized treatment plan. Services consist of academic, career technology, recreation, medical, and dental for every individual at SYSC. Treatment services are provided for substance use, family dynamics, behavioral health, and offense-specific treatment needs.

Continue reading about Summit's approach to serving youth

Restorative community justice

SYSC utilizes restorative community justice and is committed to creating a community that understands the Seven Sanctuary Commitments: nonviolence; emotional intelligence; social learning; communication; democracy; social responsibility; and growth and change. Restorative community justice principles are grounded in all areas of trauma-responsive treatment at Summit. Youth are both encouraged to develop individualized projects and participate in long-standing restorative community justice activities in partnerships within the Golden community.

Multi-disciplinary team approach

In collaboration with regional client managers, Summit utilizes a multi-disciplinary team approach. This approach provides a deliberate and caring setting for the development of individualized treatment plans, treatment plan review, and case-related decision-making. Team members include the youth, the family, natural community support, the client manager, and representatives from various youth center disciplines including clinical, education, direct-care staff and medical providers when appropriate. The youth's case plan and their individual treatment plan guide them throughout their placement at Summit by identifying goals, objectives, and target interventions.