York Intensive Family Services

Keeping the family intact is a core value for Catholic Charities. The team at York Intensive Family Services (YorkIFS) work diligently to avert the need for children or youth, who are vulnerable, abused or neglected, to be placed outside their homes.

Unfortunately, there may be times when a child is already in foster placement. In those situations we help to reunify the family. YorkIFS services are intensive and provided using several professional team members, community service providers and the family unit. A variety of techniques are used to teach parenting skills, work through difficult family dynamics and support the children dealing with trauma.

We are proud to announce a new initiative to support domestic violence survivors. Intensive Survivors Support (ISS) provides Domestic Violence services to families by fostering the development of a better quality of life through enhancing their social and emotional well-being. ISS focuses on the psychosomatic health of survivors. Survivors often lose much of their stability physically, emotionally, socially and psychologically as a result of living in a traumatic environment where all of those areas are threatened and negatively impacted on a daily basis.

ISS services will provide a safe group environment where survivors will receive assistance with things such as safety planning, coping skills, problem solving, supportive counseling, resources for access to community supports long term, and overall encouragement from the staff and their peers. Staff aim to improve the quality of the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and social components of a participants’ well-being. ISS offers both morning and evening sessions for a 26 week program that meets once per week.