Deerfield Campus is located at 4936 Old Irwin-Simpson Rd. Mason, OH 45040

Phoenix Campus is located at 196 Northcrest Drive, Mason, OH 45040

Main phone number: 513 695-2726
FAX: 513-695-1813

The Warren County ESC is expanding its capacity to better support students with intensive mental health and behavioral needs. This 2024-2025 school year, we are adding the Pheonix Campus Grades offering comprehensive services in mental health, social-emotional learning (SEL), and academic programming in ELA and Mathematics for students with emotional and behavioral needs for students grades Kindergarten through 3^rd grade. The Deerfield Campus location will serve students grades 4^th-12^th.

Program Expansion Highlights:

• Implementation of smaller class sizes for grades K-3. Seven students with one general education teacher and two classroom behavioral interventionists.
• Enhanced emphasis on integrating literacy skills and instruction into social-emotional learning lessons for grades K-3.
• The Wellness Center will maintain its current model, with 80% of the school day dedicated to mental health and social-emotional learning, and the remaining 20% allocated for academic instruction.

Director of Wellness Center

Jared Kaiser
513-695-2900 ext. 6016
Jared.Kaiser@warrencountyesc.com

Jared has supported children and adolescents with mental health diagnosis and disorders as a mental health professional/counselor for 13 years. Jared has been the Program Director/Supervisor since the program’s inception in 2019. In his previous positions, he was an Outpatient Youth Mental Health Therapist where he facilitated individual and group therapy in the treatment of mental health diagnosis in outpatient and youth residential facility environments in Montgomery County. Jared has his master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Wright State University, is an Ohio CSWMFT Board certified Independently Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor and is a certified Trauma Practitioner. He currently oversees the Wellness Center program where program leadership and the treatment team provide evidence-based interventions and mental health counseling to support students in their social emotional growth and personal well-being. Jared is passionate about helping youth facing mental health and emotional challenges find hope, healing, and a vision for a brighter future for themselves and their families.

Supervisor of Students Services and Instruction

Tara Gee
513-695-2900 ext. 3010
Tara.Gee@warrencountyesc.com

Tara has supported children with special education needs for the past 17 years. She was the supervisor of the WCESC Phoenix Academy Program for two year and before that was a Special Education Supervisor in an area school district for three years. Tara is an Intervention Specialist by training and worked at Springboro Schools for 5 years working with grades K – 5 in both a resource room and inclusion setting. When beginning her career, she was an intervention specialist in a high school class with students with multiple disabilities through Montgomery County ESC for 7 years. Tara has a passion for helping students grow in the areas of academics, social skills, emotional skills, and problem-solving skills.

Wellness Center Program Description

School based day treatment program is the most intensive non-residential program that can be provided over an extended period of time. School based day treatment permits access to mental health services in conjunction with and integrated with the child’s social emotional and educational programming. School based day treatment brings together at one location, and in a coordinated manner, a broad range of services designed to strengthen individual functioning and prevent individuals from requiring more restrictive services such as home instruction or residential placement.

Program Requirements

• Teacher/Student Ratio
  • Each classroom will maintain a staff to student ratio of 1 to 4. No classroom will exceed 8 students per classroom which requires at least 2 adults to those 8 students.
  • Each classroom will be staffed by a licensed Master’s level professional with evidence of competency in areas which include but are not limited to:
    • Knowledge of child and/or adolescent development
    • Ability to diffuse critical situations
    • Ability to design and implement positive behavioral support plans
  • Each classroom will be staffed with one registered behavior technician as part of the one to 3 ratio.
• Instructional Program
  • Programming provided in small class setting with a strong emphasis on individualized instruction
  • Behavior management, with emphasis on positive behavioral supports
  • Emotional Regulation Training
  • Sensory Processing Instruction
  • Emotional Intelligence Training/Social Skills Development
  • Individualized academic instruction (90 minutes a day)
  • Age-appropriate vocational training
  • Crisis Intervention
• Counseling/Therapy
  • Process Groups: staff facilitate groups to help students develop the skills necessary to deal with their individual issues by using the group process to provide peer interaction and feedback in developing problem-solving strategies and to assist one another in resolving behavioral and emotional problems.
  • Skill Building Groups: staff help students to identify obstacles related to their psychological experiences and, through the course of group interaction, become better to identify skills that address symptoms and behaviors and to increase adaptive behaviors.
  • Psychotherapy:
    • CBT
    • DBT
  • Experiential Groups: Staff and students participate in non-traditional therapy that utilizes self-expression as the therapeutic intervention.
• Case Management
  • A student’s team will be representative of a multidisciplinary approach combining expertise in the fields of mental health, occupational therapy, speech-language pathology, behavioral analytics, physical therapy, and social work.
  • Monthly case management meetings will occur with the entire program team including parents/guardians and community-based team members if applicable.
• Roles/Staffing
  • Program Director
  • Program Specialist
  • Speech Language Pathologist
  • Occupational Therapist
  • Physical Therapist
  • BCBA
  • Mental Health Specialist in charge of Programming
  • Intervention Specialist
  • Registered Behavior Technicians
  • Mental Health Technicians (paraprofessionals)
  • Resource Coordinator
• Crisis Management
  • Safety Care
• Parent/Family Involvement
  • Family involvement is promoted through setting clear expectations for such involvement during the intake process and during the monthly conferences. Additional opportunities for family involvement may including parent training and support groups.
• Eligibility Criteria
  • ACE scores
  • Programming at a least restrictive environment has been attempted and has been unsuccessful.
  • Behavior has been stabilized as a result of treatment in a more restrictive level of care (I.e. hospitalization; residential; partial hospital placement), but current level of stability continues to require qualitative level of programming to maintain progress.
  • Student has been identified as eligible to receive services under and IDEA disability category or Section 504.
  • Student not currently meeting basic expectations of school relative to social emotional, behavioral, and academic functioning. The less restrictive placement options within the school system do not meet student needs at the current time.
  • Length of stay within program will be determined based off a level system and the progression a student makes through the level system.