Originally operating as part of TresslerCare, the Diakon Wilderness Center has long been a leading provider of specialized services for children and youths from across Pennsylvania. Primarily serving at-risk youths referred by county juvenile probation departments or children and youth services, the Diakon Wilderness Center offers a unique and rich array of services designed to help:

• Dependent youths attain permanency, safety, and well-being, and
• Delinquent youths learn the need for accountability, community protection, and the development of competencies for responsible, successful living embodied in the principles of Balanced and Restorative Justice.

Continuing a heritage of service to children and youths

Diakon’s tradition of service to children and youths dates to the 1800s, when the organization established orphanages to care for children. Today, nearly a century and a half later, Diakon Youth Services and the Diakon Wilderness Center directly carry on the heritage of care begun by those children’s home.

Diakon Youth Services embodies a mission to bring wholeness to children, families, and communities. Its vision is to be an industry leader in providing compassionate, quality care. Its culture embraces every opportunity to grow through development of new services and enhancement of existing programs.

In striving to be the provider of choice for youth services, Diakon Youth Services frequently develops new programs in response to a community's individual needs. The Diakon Youth Center, which helped to pioneer outdoor and adventure-based programming, and Diakon Youth Services' programs for children and youths with sexual behavior and offending problems are just two examples of services created to meet unique needs.

Offering a rich array of services

The Diakon Wilderness Center and the related Diakon Youth Services stand at the forefront today because program staff members understand and respond to issues facing youths and their families. From the least- to more-restrictive level of care within its array of programs, Diakon delivers effective therapeutic services and interventions that work collaboratively to meet the individual needs of adolescents, strengthen their families, and enhance the quality of community life.

Beyond its primary services, the wilderness center and related programs maintain extensive links with other Diakon programs, such as Diakon Family Life Services and Diakon Adoption & Foster Care, providing a seamless delivery system for services including such specialized programs as outpatient counseling for youths with sexual behavior and offending issues.

With services extending to the four corners of Pennsylvania, the Diakon Wilderness Center and Diakon Youth Services prove it is possible to help at-risk youths overcome the challenges they face and lead stable, healthy, and productive lives . . . learning responsibility . . . accepting accountability . . . creating community.