Our Philosophy and Approach

Ozone House is a community-based, nonprofit agency that successfully meets the needs of runaway, homeless, and high-risk youth and their families. Ozone House's high-quality programs and services that provide support, intervention, training, and assistance. Through these support services, we help youth develop essential life skills, improve their relationships, and enhance their self-image so that they may realize their full potential for growth and happiness.

We believe it is our approach and how we provide services that not only makes Ozone House unique, but allows us to be effective with the highest need youth and families.

Youth-Centered

Sometimes young people are distrustful of "social workers" and reluctant to ask for help. Our welcoming and relaxed atmosphere helps make Ozone House a place of comfort or even a second home, where they will find safety, respect and understanding.

Accessibility

Our goal is to make services easy to obtain. We are here for those who need us, when they need us, where they need us. We are accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week, through our crisis line (734-662-2222). We offer services and outreach in local schools, at home, and on the street. And, most importantly, because all of our services are free, no one is ever turned away because of inability to pay.

Youth Development

Too often young people (especially those at risk) are looked upon as problems and are viewed in terms how they can be "fixed". At Ozone House, we take a strength-based, developmental approach that identifies and builds on the youth's talents and abilities. A youth-development approach and philosophy keeps us focused on the essential support all young people need to grow up healthy. Because we believe that young people have much to offer, we also create opportunities for practicing leaderships skills and giving back to the community.

Diversity

Ozone House is dedicated to creating and supporting diversity and respect among staff, Board, volunteers, and clients. We assertively seek to create an atmosphere that respects and appreciates cultural differences across many groups to help our young people understand and appreciative each other's difference.

Family-Centered

We believe that family support is critical to a young person's success. To make a real impact on the difficulties experienced by our clients, we work to help strengthen family relationships and help all family members see how they can be a part of the solution.

Comprehensiveness

Ozone House takes a holistic approach to working with youth and families, so that we are not just intervening on the presenting crisis, but are preventing future problems as well. This means working with the youth, family, and support community to address social, emotional, educational, and physical needs.

Building Positive Relationships

Runaway and homeless youth are sometimes missing positive adult role models or strong attachments to family. We connect with young people in a way that helps them feel valued and confident, and teach them healthy ways to care about themselves and others. Informed by experience and research, we know that youth who feel connected and attached are most likely to experience positive outcomes.

Supportive and Challenging

While empathy and compassion are critical to helping young people get through a crisis, we also challenge youth to understand the consequences of their decisions, learn new skills, and make healthy choices to avoid future crises. From communication skills to money management, we help them find healthier ways of coping with day to day living. We also help young people set reasonable life goals and identify concrete steps to achieve these goals.

Flexibility

No two situations are exactly alike. Each and every young person we support has a different story and life situation that requires a special response. The type, intensity and length of our services always depends on the individual needs of the youth and family.

Tireless Dedication

People are the tools of social work and the key to our success. At Ozone House we work hard to recruit and retain individuals who are skilled, hardworking, and caring, and who have a passion for serving youth and a commitment to never give up on them.