Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch residential lodges and residential transition homes provide treatment along a continuum of care to meet the needs of emotionally disturbed youth.

Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch (YBGR) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) fully accredited multi-service organization providing mental health programs and services to emotionally disturbed youth and their families. In its Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility (PRTF), YBGR provides a structured program containing a “continuum of care” allowing youth to actively engage in treatment within an environment of support and increasing responsibility.

Youth are provided the least restrictive level of care needed within four levels of treatment units. The SAIL Model, developed by Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch (YBGR), serves as a guide for the treatment of children/youth. It is not an intervention, but is a treatment philosophy focused on helping emotionally damaged children/youth recover from the effects of adverse childhood experiences and life impacting situations, or better deal with the impact of biologically based emotional disturbance. The components of the SAIL model are a guide for YBGR in developing a culture with four dominant characteristics which serve as goals related to a quality treatment environment. SAIL is an acronym for Safety, Affect Regulation, Integration of Developmental Tasks, and Living Learning Environment. The five phases of treatment in the SAIL Model include Non-Participant, Observer, Participant, Self-Directed, and Transitional. Treatment units are programmed to offer treatment oriented structure for youth working to master the responsibilities for their Phase of treatment.

Level I (Phases: Non-participant and Observer)

Brekkeflat Intensive Treatment Unit
Highly secure, gender specific intensive residential treatment for 8 boys or 8 girls on separated sides of the treatment unit. Youth may be admitted to this unit for assessment and stabilization purposes, prior to placement in one of the other YBGR treatment units. This unit accepts boys from 6 to 18 years of age and girls from 12 to 18 years of age and retains them for varied periods of time, as determined by their response to treatment. Education services are provided in self-contained classrooms within the unit. Youth admitted and treated within this unit represent all diagnostic categories of mental disorders and typically require a highly structured environment focusing on safety. As youth transition to the Observer phase, plans for transfer to a lower level in the continuum of the PRTF occur. The Brekkeflat Intensive Treatment Unit is located within the same building as the 24-hourYBGR Nursing Clinic. This building also offices the psychiatrists, psychologists, and psychiatric advanced practice nurses.

Level II (Phases: Observer and Participant)

These youth may exhibit high activity and emotional and behavioral lability, and require structure, consistent boundaries, and nurturing. They receive education services in either self-contained or rotation classrooms in the Yellowstone Academy on the West campus, depending upon their academic skills and behavioral predictability. They are also able to begin participation in life skills, vocational and therapeutic work skill opportunities. Youth at this level are willing to participate in all portions of the treatment program. They may regress at times, but then they return within a reasonable amount of time to active participation. At this level of the continuum, they have more opportunities to be involved in the Uihlein recreation center, intra-mural sports, chapel, and campus community service. They may be able to have therapeutic off-campus passes as determined by their treatment plan.

Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch residential lodges and residential transition homes provide treatment along a continuum of care to meet the needs of emotionally disturbed youth.



Fortin Lodge East and West, Paul Stock Lodge
Three secure, intensive residential treatment units for 9 – 10 boys ages 12 to 18, located on the West campus near the Yellowstone Academy, Dining Hall, Chapel, Family Housing and the Uihlein Center athletic complex. The physical plant allows younger boys to be maintained and treated separately from older youth.





Alvina Kramlich Lodge
A secure, intensive residential treatment unit, for 9 – 10 girls ages 12 to 18, located near the YBGR Clinic on the East campus.


Dorothy’s Lodge (Little Boys Lodge)
A residential treatment unit, for 9 boys, ages 6 to 11, located near the YBGR Clinic on the East campus. They receive education services in self-contained classrooms in the Yellowstone Academy on the West campus.

Level III (Phases: Participant, Self Directed, and Transitional)

These youth have demonstrated progress in their treatment goals and have the ability to be treated in a setting with lower structure than Level II units/lodges. They receive education services in self-contained or rotation classrooms in the Yellowstone Academy on the West campus, depending upon their academic skills and behavioral predictability. They continue their participation in vocational, life skills and therapeutic work skill opportunities. As these youth move toward the Self Directed phase, they have mastered a number of their treatment goals and are taking increased responsibility for changes in thought, emotions and behavior. They begin to suggest personal steps they are willing to add to their treatment plan. They are expected to display increasing internal initiative, positive role modeling, empathy/peer helping and improving interpersonal effectiveness, and increasing positive care of self. They have more opportunities to access an increased number of on-campus and off-campus activities, in keeping with their treatment plan. 24-hour supervision and treatment continues to be provided, but programming is less structured and regimented as they improve their coping skills and internal controls, maintaining affect and behavioral regulation with decreased structure.




Shumaker Lodge,
Jessie Grant Lodge
Two residential treatment units/lodges for 9 – 10 girls, ages 12-18, located near the YBGR Clinic on the East campus.


McVay Lodge, King Lodge, Leuthold Lodge
Two residential treatment unit/lodges, for 9 – 10 boys, ages 12 to 18, located on the West campus.

Level IV (Phases: Self-Directed and Transitional)

Residential Transition Homes (RTHs): King (boys) and Dennis Wear (girls)
Dennis Wear and King RTHs are 8-bed gender specific psychiatric residential transitional programs, located in Billings, MT neighborhoods. The RTHs provide therapeutic transitional settings, which are less structured than campus based treatment. Ages for the girls program are 10 – 18 years and for boys are 12 – 18 years. Mastery of many treatment goals and stabilization of emotional disorders have typically been experienced prior to placement in one of the RTHs. The youth receive education services at the Yellowstone Academy on the YBGR Campus. In these transitional treatment settings the youth receive instruction in daily life skills and may obtain a part-time job, attend various community activities and participate in recreational and sporting programs.

Family Guest Housing
At YBGR, a strong emphasis is placed on family involvement. In addition to family therapy, the nurturing provided by families is important. Limited Family Guest Housing on campus is offered to visiting families for a period up to 2 nights, at no charge, when they participate in Family Therapy. Reservations are required and advanced requests are recommended to ensure availability of guest housing.