What We Do

The Genesis Project is a residential treatment center located on six developed acres in Northeast Oklahoma City between Edmond and Jones, Oklahoma. We provide individual, group, and family therapies for boys, ages 6-12 and teach daily living skills.

It is our mission to provide the highest quality of residential services and trauma-informed treatment to abused and neglected boys entrusted to us by the State of Oklahoma. We are committed to providing our youth with the tools necessary to return to the community in the most effective and successful way possible.

Trauma Informed Care

We use trauma-informed methods to care for and treat our boys. Most of them have experienced child traumatic stress, the physical and emotional responses of a child or youth to events that threaten the life or physical integrity of the young person or of someone critically important to the child (such as a parent or sibling). Traumatic events overwhelm a young person’s capacity to cope. These events bring out feelings of terror, powerlessness, and out-of-control physiological arousal. (Child Welfare Committee, National Child Traumatic Stress Network, 2008).

As a Level E therapeutic treatment facility, The Genesis Project cares for boys who have experienced acute trauma (single traumatic event), chronic trauma (multiple traumatic events) and complex trauma (trauma caused by adults entrusted with the child’s care).

The impact of trauma may result in a child isolating himself and having issues with relating to others. He may experience problems with movement and sensation and have a difficult time describing his feelings. He may be aggressive, self-destructive and have poor impulse control. He may have difficulty focusing on tasks, learning and language development. Many times, he may suffer from low self-esteem, shame and guilt. 

Components of a Trauma Informed System include:

• Trauma Awareness
• Emphasis on Safety
• Opportunities to Rebuild Control
• Strength-based Approach

S.T.A.R.T.

Systematic Training to Assist in the Recovery from Trauma

To effectively care for children who have experienced trauma, the staff at The Genesis Project undergo Systematic Training to Assist in the Recovery from Trauma (S.T.A.R.T.). Under the leadership of our experts, staff learn effective measures to identify a child’s issues and respond appropriately with individualized trauma-informed care.

M.A.B.

Managing Aggressive Behavior

The Genesis Project utilizes training prepared by The University of Oklahoma’s National Resource Center for Youth Services called Managing Aggressive Behavior (M.A.B.). M.A.B. uses a broad approach to crisis intervention and prevention. M.A.B. focuses on prevention, intervention and postvention strategies. Some tools include listening, relaxing, lending, using activities and games, building on strengths and understanding the effects of trauma on behavior.

T.B.R.I.

Trust-Based Relational Intervention

According to the Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development, TBRI® is an attachment-based, trauma-informed intervention that is designed to meet the complex needs of vulnerable children. TBRI® uses Empowering Principles to address physical needs, Connecting Principles for attachment needs, and Correcting Principles to disarm fear-based behaviors. While the intervention is based on years of attachment, sensory processing, and neuroscience research, the heartbeat of TBRI® is connection.

Music Therapy

Music can be a powerful tool to help address histories of trauma and mistreatment. Music is processed and produced through a different pathway than verbal speech. It taps into a primal sense of rhythm that we all possess. According to the American Music Therapy Association, music therapy empowers children to:

• Engage in self-reflection
• Foster social and communication skills by making music with peers
• Identify how their thoughts and feelings influence behaviors, choices, and identity development
• Learn to self-regulate and develop healthy coping skills

The Genesis Project uses evidence-based assessment tools, The Healthy-Unhealthy Music Scale (HUMS) and The Beech Brook Group Therapy Assessment. 

Equine Therapy

Equine therapy teaches life skills and life lessons most of our boys have never experienced. The Genesis Project partners with Nexus Equine in El Reno, Oklahoma. Nexus Equine cares for abandoned and malnourished horses and helps some that need homes. Similarities between our boys and the horses are striking. Many of the horses have experienced trauma, fears, trust, and behavioral issues just like our boys. The therapy teaches the boys to be caring and nurturing, and how to recognize the needs of others. It helps them learn to connect appropriately with other living things and teaches what a healthy attachment and emotions for other living things look like.