Venture restart plan

The Venture Program is designed to address the therapeutic, psychiatric and educational needs of students in grades six through post-secondary, who have recently been discharged from a psychiatric hospital or residential treatment program, or are exhibiting serious psychiatric symptoms. This program is a collaborative effort between Bergen County Special Services and Bergen County Division of Family Guidance (DFG), the latter which provides a full array of psychiatric and therapeutic services.

Psychiatric services include, evaluation, diagnosis, provision of prescriptions and the management and monitoring of psychiatric medications. Therapeutic services include: group therapy largely focused on mindfulness practice to facilitate the self-regulation of emotions and behaviors, individual psychotherapy with LCSW’s and group Art Therapy run by a licensed Art Therapist. Crisis Counselors are available at all times to all students. DFG provides psycho-educational services to staff, students and families. Family therapy is offered in evenings at their main office. Clinical Staff will maintain contact with students’ outside psychiatrist, therapists and agencies when applicable.

Venture has a strong academic program for grades 6 to 12+ to meet Individual Education Plans aligned with NJSLS and LCE. Venture also offers State Testing for those students participating in NJ Ask 8, NJBCT and PARCC. Progress reporting and grades occurs four times a year; parent conferences as needed and IEP annual reviews are part of the academic program. State of the art technology is implemented to enhance the Venture Program’s academic curriculum.

Post-secondary students who have completed all their high school academic requirements for graduation are offered career education and hands on community based instruction. This includes simulated work training opportunities, job training, internships and travel training.

Welcome to the 2024-2025 school year. We are looking forward to a school year filled with opportunities to provide our students with experiences that will influence their social, emotional and academic growth. At Venture we provide our students with a small group therapeutic school setting. Our long-standing partnership with the Division of Family Guidance (DFG) makes it possible to provide clinical services for our Venture students and families. These services can include group and individual therapy, crisis counseling, family therapy and art therapy. For families who are interested, we can also provide Venture students with medication management services.

In addition to our therapeutic services, the Venture program provides supported academic courses that follow New Jersey State Learning Standards. Elective courses in the areas of Music, Art and World Language are options for our students. We also provide our students with exposure to culinary skills by the use of our state-of-the-art kitchen located at the BCSS Garfield House. We also utilize the BCSS Garfield House to help teach our students the life skills they may need to function independently.

We continue to pride ourselves on our ability to help our students successfully meet their transition goals. Students who are interested in entering the work force are assigned a BCSS Job Coach their junior year. A variety of jobs can be sampled under the supervision of our program Job Developer. As seniors, students may be eligible for an internship. For our students whose transition goals include two or four year colleges, we provide services through our BCSS Post-Secondary Counselor. The Counselor can help explore a variety of colleges/trade schools and assist in the application process.

We look forward to working with families and local districts in order to provide a successful academic experience for all our students.