Behavioral Health - Jack Brown Center

Mission Statement

The mission of Jack Brown Center is to serve Native American youth and substance abuse problems by providing opportunities for education, and/or mental, spiritual, emotional and physical growth through treatment. We at the Jack Brown Center will constantly strive to:

1. Provide our youth with a sense of cultural identity.
2. Provide our youth with a safe environment while building their self-confidence and enhancing life skills.
3. Provide support for our communities in their efforts to prevent substance abuse in future generations

~We value honesty and honor the spirituality of each individual~

The Jack Brown Center is a twenty-bed co-educational facility providing treatment for chemical dependency in a residential setting to Indian adolescents. The program is intended to serve clients from 13 to 18 years of age who are experiencing serious substance abuse problems. Applications must be made for admission so that an accurate assessment of the individual's needs can be made prior to acceptance. When and applicant is accepted, details of admission and requirements for participation are coordinated through the in-take staff. Applicants who are not accepted are referred elsewhere. The length of stay for program completion varies from 60 to 120 days.

Staffed by 36 professional and paraprofessional including a doctorate level clinic psychologist, the treatment program at the Jack Brown Center approaches the client through dual diagnosis. This is a process that addresses both the chemical abuse of dependence as will as the related mental health issues of the client. Personal and/or family difficulties often accompany a chemical dependency problem, so a comprehensive, self-contained program of education, counseling, recreation, psychology and cultural enrichment is used to treat the client, with a special emphasis on art therapy as a means of health promotion.

Art therapy has bee proven to be an effective approach in treating Native Americans. It refers to the use of art as a healing tool in working with clients. Drawing, painting, doodling, sculpture, pottery, photography and more are used as vehicles for self discovery, problem-solving, conflict resolution and to enhance communication skills. The central concept of effective art therapy is that all the marks we make on paper, all the colors and graphic gestures we choose and use, are extensions of ourselves and of what we think and feel. Art therapy is especially valuable for those to whom words come too easily or too hard.

The treatment program of the Jack Brown Center is funded by the Indian Health Service and is administered through the Cherokee Nation Health Service. JBC is one of ten regional treatment centers funded by the IHS nationwide. The Cherokee Nation Program is currently housed in a dormitory on the campus of the tribe's Sequoyah High School. The center is named in honor of former Sequoyah Boarding School superintendent and benefactor, Mr. Jack Brown.