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Philosophical Principles |
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Philosophy of healing and growth We believe that God has endowed each human being with a unique set of instructions to carry out his life. A person can become separated from this God-given knowledge by a wall of emotion such as anger or fear. Contact with a patient and disciplined person who has an effective understanding of the healing process can attract a buried self back toward the surface. What is stirred by such contact is neither imitation nor implant, but the essence of individual life. One of the most profound disturbances to the early evolution of this guidance system occurs when a child is prematurely separated from a protective environment, such as through the loss of important relationships owing to abuse, abandonment, or catastrophe. Only time and the persistent application of love can dissipate fear and anger and return the wounded child to his appointed journey. Since it is rare for such a child to move easily or adeptly into a trust-based relationship, it is essential to provide a structured environment based on traditional Christian values that can secure the child in moral and personal safety until the complex and perilous task of recovering treasures lost, is, by grace, achieved. Program Mission: Commitment to Relationship The HCYR program is structured to emphasize long-term relationships with adults who can, in time, come to serve as a familial support group to the child. Because we believe that children deserve the benefit of working through childhood's journey with some continuity of relationship, we offer a whole community of adult caregivers among whom a child may discover at least a few lifetime friends. This is a baseline factor that has given most of us resilience, hope and perseverance, qualities often lacking in abused and thrown-away children. We have observed that it takes at least a year for a child to show significant healing from significant traumas, including loss of or separation from family. The Idea of the Village: A Continuum of Care To provide structure, supervision and support for each child according to his needs, HCYR has developed a continuum of care that reaches out to help a child discover and develop his inborn gifts so that he can find rewards that lift him above the inducements to chronic self-pity while he is simultaneously receiving treatment for the psychic wounds and ailments that cause him pain. "It takes a whole village to raise a child" is a proverb especially true of traumatized children, who may not respond well to the stresses of living in a single-family situation, but may respond superbly to a more complex set of choices, in which a variety of mentors share their time and their vocational specialties, one of which may resonate with the child and motivate him to get involved, set goals, work hard, and persevere. Open-Ended Learning System HCYR calls itself an open-ended learning system. This means that Ranch culture changes as each individual adds himself to the whole, and, in turn, the individual evolves as he lives among us. Respect for the value and creativity of the individual is at the core of this system. As an individual learns to come through difficult events without damaging himself or others, and assimilates the ethical basis of a purposeful life, he or she learns that he is responsible for giving as well as receiving, and becomes valuable to the group, helping it gain a higher ground. |
Big Springs Ranch Brief History of Big Springs Ranch
AKA: The Place of a Thousand Angels ~~~ Ingram Ranch
Brief History of HCYR at Ingram
Where the Children Come From
Cailloux Elementary School ~~~
Mission Statement It is the mission of Hill Country Youth Ranch to provide a safe, loving, and life-enhancing environment, in an atmosphere of Christian guidance, for children with special emotional and developmental needs.
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