Keeping Teens Safe During Pandemic: Travel, Admissions, and Treatment

We understand parents are concerned about safety during the pandemic. Rest assured this is our top priority at Evolve. We have developed rigorous protocols to protect our teens. We use hospital-grade sanitation practices. We require our teens to test negative for COVID-19 before admission. We have researched the safest way to travel to Evolve from out of state and require families to follow our travel guidelines. We conduct frequent COVID screenings for all clients and staff and practice social distancing at all times.

More on safety protocols

Keeping Teens Safe During Pandemic: Travel, Admissions, and Treatment

Evolve is considered an essential health care facility because we provide lifesaving mental health treatment and support for struggling teens.  We have developed protocols for travel, admissions, and ongoing care that prioritize the safety of our clients and staff.

The following is a brief summary of the exceptional measures we are taking to ensure the health and safety of our clients, staff, and community at large.

  • Sanitizing each facility to strict hygiene standards
  • Requiring new RTC clients to test negative for COVID-19
  • Conducting frequent COVID screenings for all clients and staff
  • Limiting access to the facilities to maintain strict sanitation
  • Requiring social distancing at all times
  • Requiring staff members in the facility to wear facemasks at all times
  • Shifting family therapy, family visits and certain experiential therapies to an online platform

Admissions Protocols

  • Prior to admissions into our residential treatment centers all new clients will be required to test negative for COVID-19.
  • We limit new clients to those within driving distance or those who can take a direct flight to our facility from PST, MST, or CST time zones.
  • Clients will be required to use of approved airlines that utilize HEPA air filters and disinfectant machines, and who have implemented strict social distancing protocols (reduced seating, requiring marks). These airlines are:
    • Delta
    • Southwest
    • Jet Blue
  • Encourage families to book the first flight of the day to avoid daytime crowds
  • Ask clients to bring only carry-on luggage to avoid crowded baggage-claim areas (parents may ship additional belongings to the facility)
  • Evolve will transport clients directly from the airport to treatment center (alternatively, families may rent a car through Hertz, which has developed the Gold Standard Clean Program)
  • Only the teen will be allowed entry to the home (parents/guardians may escort to the door) as a social distancing measure
  • Staff will wash and disinfect the client’s clothing and belongings immediately

Social Distancing

Residential Staff and Clients stay six feet apart at all times

Face masks are worn by staff at all times

We are vigilantly following and adopting all safety and infection-control guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the California Department of Public Health (CDPH).

In order to ensure we are doing our absolute best to minimize risk of exposure to our clients, their families, and the general community, many of the changes we have implemented above and beyond these agencies’ regulations.

Please contact us if you have any other questions about our protocols in place to keep teens safe.

Evolve Puts Family First

Evolve (verb): To transform into a more complex or advanced state.

Our name is more than a catchy branding tag. It sums up who we are and what we believe. It clarifies our primary goal for every teen we meet: positive forward change.

Evolution is adaptation.
There is never change without challenge. Learning happens when we apply fresh concepts and strategies to the problems we face. Growth happens when we step outside our comfort zone and apply new strategies to old situations.

Evolve Puts Family First

At Evolve, we create a safe, positive, productive environment where real change happens daily. Our teens feel like they’re in a private home participating in a program designed specifically for their total health and recovery, because that’s exactly where they are and that’s exactly what we provide.

The first thing families notice when they visit our residential treatment centers is that they don’t look or feel like treatment centers. They look and feel like places people live. They’re intimate, warm, and welcoming. Bedrooms look like bedrooms. Living rooms look like living rooms. Our kitchens aren’t industrial and our dining rooms aren’t cafeterias. We sit down and eat three healthy, hearty, home-cooked meals a day, family style.

Our outpatient facilities have the same feel. They’re not stale office spaces sandwiched between law firms and accounting agencies. They’re every bit as comfortable as our residential centers. We create an ambience conducive to healing and open communication.

We laugh, learn, grow, play, heal, and recover—together. We create a home and we live like a family. That’s what makes Evolve different.