Empower U
Helping Youth Create Lasting Change
COLORADO
The National Youth Advocate Program (NYAP) is deeply committed to delivering trauma-informed, community-based services that prioritize safety, stability, and build on the inherent strengths of youth and families.
NYAP’s Empower U program reflects our belief that youth and families achieve the best outcomes when they can remain safely together, living in their communities. Rooted in a strengths-based approach, Empower U serves youth who are at risk of or currently involved with the juvenile justice system by providing them with the tools they need for success.
What We Offer
Empower U provides individualized support to promote sustainable behavior change and personal growth. Services focus on accountability and resilience while ensuring family and community safety. Programming addresses four essential life domains:
Family
Education or Vocation
Community
Purposeful Life
Programming is guided by the following principles
Youth and community safety is nonnegotiable
An unwavering belief in every youth’s capacity for a positive future
Treatment emphasizes accountability and rehabilitation
Services are delivered in the least restrictive, most appropriate setting
A nonjudgmental, strengths-based service philosophy
Evidence-Based Practices
Our programming consists of an integration of the following evidence-based practices:
Aggression Replacement Training (ART): A cognitive-behavioral intervention designed to reduce aggressive behavior and improve social skills, anger management, and moral reasoning through structured skill-building components
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT): DBT-based strategies help youth manage intense emotions, strengthen self-regulation, improve distress tolerance, and develop healthier coping mechanisms
Motivational Interviewing (MI): A person-centered, goal-oriented approach that helps youth resolve ambivalence and strengthen internal motivation for positive behavioral change
Who We Serve
Empower U is a community-based program serving youth ages 12 to 17 who demonstrate aggressive, illegal, or other high-risk behaviors and are currently involved with or may otherwise become involved with the juvenile justice or child welfare systems.
We serve youth at risk of removal from their home, those eligible for diversion from congregate or out-of-home care, and youth transitioning back into the community from residential placement. Empower U provides a structured, family-centered alternative to higher levels of care, equipping youth with the skills, accountability, and support needed to live safely, respectfully, and productively in their communities.
Empower U Goals
Empower U serves as a primary intervention, diversion option, or for step-down or aftercare services. Our program is designed to help youth reshape thinking patterns related to violence and harmful behavior, encourage a long-term commitment to nonviolent decision-making, strengthen positive relationships, and build a sense of personal responsibility.
Program Structure
Each youth and family receives an average of four to six hours of services per week, based on referral information and assessed needs. Services are delivered by a multidisciplinary team, including a master’s-level therapist and a bachelor’s-level case manager who engage youth and families served in:
A comprehensive assessment process, including standardized assessments, a diagnostic assessment, and a substance use screening
Individualized service plan development with youth and their families
Face-to-face contact with youth and family, as applicable, two to three times per week, including:
Child and Family Team meetings
Individual therapy
Weekly youth group sessions
Family therapy and parenting support, as applicable
Educational coordination, life skills development, and supportive services
24-hour crisis response
Aftercare planning and service linkage
Post-discharge follow up as indicated
