Agency History
The Agency was founded in 1989, as the Adolescent Residential Care Program, with the opening of ARC House (a five-bed Licensed Community Care Facility). This Residential Treatment Program was operated as a Proprietorship of an independent Contractor - Shane Picken; funded by the Ministry of Social Services. The Agency was incorporated as a "limited company" - ARC Programs Ltd., in 1991. The Strategic Plan for the future of the Agency was widened to include planning for Non-Residential Services for Youth and Families, representative of the Community's needs. The residential program has revised its services over the years to meet the needs of the youth and families in the communities we serve.

The ARC Intensive Residential Program currently provides residential care, supervision and treatment services for behaviorally-challenging youth-in-care. The program is provided through two staffed facilities, in the community of Westbank. The ARC House facility is a four-bed Licensed Community Care Facility. The program is approximately six to twelve months in length, depending on the needs of the youth and family participating in the Program. All youth served are in the care of the Ministry for Children and Family Development, either through a Temporary or Continuing Care Order, or an Agreement between MCFD and the family. Youth-in-care are referred by MCFD Social Workers to the MCFD Resources Unit for a staffed residential program in the community. The program provides intensive follow-up/after-care services for youth and their subsequent caregivers, to maintain the progress achieved while living in the residential facilities as they adapt to living in the family care environment and pursue their new goals.

ARC Programs entered into a partnership with Alcohol and Drug Programs, Ministry of Health, to develop and implement an intensive non-residential Day-treatment program for 'high-risk' youth and their families. The Changes Program began providing the intensive Day Program for substance treatment in September 1992. The Changes Program currently provides a range of Alcohol and Drug Services, including Prevention, early Intervention and Outpatient Treatment, through several service delivery models. The services provided may include: primary prevention activities, community awareness presentations, peer-support development programs, substance misuse assessment, brief counselling intervention, intensive individual treatment, referral and case management within the addictions/mental health system of care (detox, outpatient, concurrent disorder services, residential treatment, support recovery), A&D awareness, life skills and harm reduction group series, aftercare planning and support services. The services provided to individual youth are individualized and matched according to the client's needs and preferences, and/or may correspond to how they are referred to the program.

ARC Programs entered into a further partnership with the Ministry of Attorney General in September, 1994. The Choices Program is a Community-based Intervention Program for Young Offenders. The Program provides an alternative to custodial sentencing option for youth in conflict with the law, assisting youth to address factors leading to their illegal behaviours & improve their functioning in the community. The program provides services on an outreach basis, and an individualized case management approach, to meet the needs of the high risk youth referred by the local MCF youth probation team.

As an addition to the Choices Program above, ARC Programs provides the Intensive Support and Supervision Program (ISSP) component, which is also a alternative-to-custody sentencing option for youth in conflict with the law, and/or supports the re-integration of young offenders in the community following a period in custody; assisting youth to address factors leading to their illegal behaviours and improve their functioning in the community. Support and monitoring is provided to youth in complying with the conditions of their probation order, and the service assists the Youth Probation team in providing supervision to high-risk young offenders in the community. Individual counselling, parenting support, recreation, and case management support services are provided for referred youth. The services, and staff team, of the Intensive Support and Supervision Program (ISSP) are integrated with the Choices Program. The two programs provide a very similar service delivery model and approach; however, the ISSP provides service to a more specific, high-risk group of offenders. ARC Programs has provided the ISSP in Kelowna since 2003, when the new Youth Criminal Justice Act was proclaimed.

ARC Programs has provided another Youth Justice Program, in Penticton since 2002,  called PeNRAP. The PeNRAP Program component provides a young offender community intervention service and Day Program for youth in conflict with the law; assisting youth to address factors leading to their illegal behaviours and improve their functioning in the community. Youth must be on probation, or subject to the conditions of a diversion agreement, and referred by the Penticton Youth Probation team. Support and monitoring is provided to youth in complying with the conditions of their probation order or diversion agreement, and the services assist the Youth Probation team in providing supervision to young offenders in the community. The core service of the program is group-based life skills programming, supporting youth to address barriers and develop skills to improve their functioning in the program. Individual counselling, pro-social community activities, recreation, and case management support services are also provided for referred youth. In September 2006 a school program, Ellis St., was implemented in the Penrap office through the collaboration of ARC Programs, the School District Special Education Services and Youth Probation, to provide a computer-base learning program for young offenders that experience challenges in the regular school programs. In April 2009, another program component, the Intensive Support and Supervision Program (ISSP), which has been integrated with the Penrap Program. The ISSP provides through the same service delivery model as Penrap, to a more specific c;lient [population. The PeNRAP counsellors and Ellis St. School are located in the Penticton ARC Programs community services office, 346 Ellis St.; and provide services to youth and caregivers from across the south Okanagan.

The Youth Services Program has combined the program objectives of two previously operated programs, Youth Agreements Support Services, and Safe-housing Support Services for sexually-exploited youth (as a result of funding reductions and subsequent program re-structuring). The Youth Agreements Support Program began with ARC Programs being selected as a Provincial Pilot Program site in November, 1998; which was funded by The Ministry for Children and Families. Youth Agreements legislation was proclaimed December 1999 allowing for ongoing service provided by ARC Programs. The Youth Services Program currently provides case management/service coordination and support services to: assist homeless/high-risk youth to address personal barriers to becoming independent; and/or support sexually-exploited youth to reduce their involvement in sexual exploitation related activities. The majority of the program resources are directed to supporting youth on Youth Agreements with the Ministry for Children and Family Development. Case management support and service coordination is provided in cooperation with the MCFD Youth Services team and other involved service providers. Youth on an agreement with the Ministry are provided individual counseling and support services; to develop skills and awareness in relation to daily living, interpersonal relationships, health, education, employment and training, and the impact of substance misuse. This program component also provides individual counselling and support to assist youth to decrease their involvement with, and reduce the harm associated with, sexual exploitation-related activities. A hands-on outreach approach is provided to support youth to exit the sex trade or related activities, and enter into a Youth Agreement, return to their family, or another residential placement/option. A new program component, Collaborative Youth and Family Services was implemented in the summer of 2007; providing intensive support services for slightly younger youth (13 to 16) and their families, with the goal of supporting those families to stay together.

The Boundaries Program is an intensive treatment program offering Residential and Non-Residential support services, which was implemented in the communities of Kelowna and Kamloops in 2004. The Boundaries Program provides services to youth ages 12-19, who have been convicted of a sexual offence, and their families. The Boundaries Program is considered a Youth Justice Residential Attendance Program, however the services are contracted through the provincial Youth Forensic Psychiatric Services (YFPS) division of the Ministry for Children and Family Development (MCFD). The Residential component of the program is a four-bed intensive supported treatment foster care model, and service planning is integrated with the treatment services provided by the MCFD Youth Forensic Psychiatric Services clinics for the individual youth involved in the program. The Boundaries Non-Residential (outreach) component provides the capacity to support youth that do not require a residential placement, to participate in and benefit from the treatment services provided through the YFPS clinics.

The Child and Youth Mental Health Family-Based Treatment Program component is an outreach community based mental health service designed to reduce the risk to children/youth and build the capacity of their families, by supporting them to reduce or overcome the negative effects and impact of a serious mental health disorder. The program demonstrates the effectiveness of intensive in-home family support services and wraparound service planning for each youth and family. The services are delivered in collaboration with the MCFD Child and Youth Mental Health teams, in the communities of the north, central, and south Okanagan; and began the delivery of services in 2004.

The Support Services for Families (with FASD) Program is a community based outreach service designed to enhance protective factors and reduce risk factors for a young person with FASD, and build the capacity of their families to provide ongoing nurturing care for their children. ARC Programs and Okanagan Metis Children and Family Services have developed a partnership to deliver the program services. There are two program components, the Keyworker Services and the Parent-to-Parent Support Services. The Keyworker Services provide case management support and coordination, and assistance to families in implementing the recommendations of the FASD Assessment provided by the Interior Health Children's Assessment Network. The Parent-to-Parents Support Services are offered to any parent who has a child that has been assessed with FASD, and include individual and group-based supports. This program began providing services to the community in Kelowna in 2006.

The South Okanagan ARC Residential (SOAR) Program has provided residential care, supervision and treatment services for youth with challenging behaviour and emotional difficulties, in the south Okanagan since 1998. The Program is approximately six months to a year in total length, depending on the needs of the youth and family participating in the Program. All youth are in the care of the Ministry of Children and Family Development, either through an Agreement with the family or through a Temporary or Continuing Care Order. The program provides residential care in two facilities, each a 2-bed staffed resource. There is a SOAR facility in Penticton and Oliver communities. The program also provides Transition Services (follow-up/after-care) to youth leaving the program facilities, through the SOAR Wrap component. The SOAR Wrap component provides outreach services to youth that have been invovlved in the SOAR residential program, or to youth living in foster homes where there is a risk of placement breakdown. The SOAR Wrap counsellors are located in the Penticton ARC Programs community services office, 346 Ellis St.; and provide services to youth and caregivers from Summerland, Penticton, Okanagan Falls, Oliver and Osoyoos.

ARC Programs’ service delivery area has been expanded to include the Kootenay region, as of December 2006, when White Water Youth Services of Nelson, BC, merged with ARC Programs. As a result of this amalgamation, we have achieved an increased capacity to deliver a continuum of high quality and effective services for children, youth and families in Kootenay regional communities. White Water Youth Services was a small private agency, providing similar services to those provided by ARC Programs, since 2002. Whitewater was based in Nelson, and provided services to youth and caregivers across the West Kootenay and Boundary communities, with limited outreach to the East Kootenays as well. The services provided by White Water are funded by MCFD, and included a Foster Parent Support Program, the Support to Family Care Network Program, Intensive Support and Supervision Program (Youth Justice), and clinical treatment services for high-risk young offenders (Youth Forensic Psychiatric Services).A new program and satellite office was implemented in 2007, the Nakusp Youth and Family Services Program; providing a range of component services for children, youth and families in the Arrow Lakes and Slocan Valley communities.