​DAYMARK, Inc. is a private, non-profit youth services agency that has been serving families and children within the Greater Kanawha Valley of West Virginia for fifty years. The overall purpose of DAYMARK is to advocate for and provide services to troubled and troubling youth, the needs of their families, and the community.

 

DAYMARK provides its services through Patchwork, a 24-hour a-day intervention center and youth (age 12+) shelter, Turning Point, a long-term residential care program serving older youth (age 15 – 21) who are currently wards of the state, and New Connections, a program for high-risk older adolescents (age 17 – 21) who are seeking to viably live independently.

 

DAYMARK is based on the belief that each young person should be given the opportunity to achieve his/her fullest potential, and that this occurs when s/he is provided guidance and support in a caring, respectful, responsible manner.

 

Patchwork provides free, confidential, voluntary, and licensed services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for youth 12 and up. Patchwork’s mission is to respond to the needs of youth and families in crisis and to provide youth in high-risk situations with a safe and appropriate alternative to abusive, neglectful, or conflictive environments. Residential and non-residential services include individual, group, telephone and walk-in counseling; information and referral; emergency services such as food and clothing; advocacy; outreach; community education; and follow-up services. Patchwork also provides crisis support services for youth in the custody of the state of West Virginia and serves about 200 youth per year.

 

Turning Point is a pre-independent living group home for adolescents ages 15 – 21 that are in the custody of the State of West Virginia. The goal of Turning Point is to provide a homelike supportive atmosphere, ultimately leading to the adolescent’s independence. Residents are enrolled in high school or a high school equivalency program and/or engaged in vocational awareness activities. The Turning Point program prepares residents to live successfully on their own, out in the community, or to return to their family unit. The Turning Point program is based on a Four Phase System which helps youth gain more responsibility and independence as they work through the goals in the phases. Turning Point serves about 40 youth per year.

 

New Connections is a program helping youth more toward independence through education and job/life skills. The program serves “high risk” older adolescents, ages 17 through 21, who, because of childhood trauma, abuse, or neglect, become prime candidates during adolescence for school failure, illegal and delinquent behaviors, homelessness, problem pregnancies, and drug abuse. New Connections looks upon the individual needs of these youth and develops a program of counseling and support services to meet them. In addition to education and Independent Living programs, New Connections provides life skills training, training in job search and job skills, support groups, transportation, meals and minor emergency financial assistance. The program’s goal is to provide these youth with some stability so that they will be able to focus their effort toward a more hopeful, positive, and responsible independence. The New Connections education lab is open Monday – Thursday 8:00 – 4:00. The New Connections Independent/Transitional Living Case Manager supervises clients who live in the five on-site apartments.

 

DAYMARK’s programs are licensed by the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resource Bureaus of Social Services and Public Health. The agency is also accredited by the Council on Accreditation of Services for Families and Children.