What We Do LifeWorks primarily serves youth and young families ages 16-26 (age can vary depending on the program) who are located in Austin and across Central Texas, many of whom have experienced homelessness. We have designed various programs that meet our clients where they are, and support their pursuit of a life they love. Successes can include finding stable housing, earning a high school diploma, finding employment, or addressing trauma through counseling.
Housing Our housing programs offer emergency, transitional, and long-term supportive options. We help clients transition from homelessness to housing while providing case management services to help maintain their apartments, enhance independent living skills, and ensure long-term stability.
Education & Workforce LifeWorks Education and Workforce Division is focused on developing the knowledge and skills needed to navigate the challenges of adolescence, move toward independence, and break the cycle of poverty. Through these services, youth and adults can achieve their educational goals, increase employability, and gain parenting skills and broader life skills.
Counseling Our counseling and peer support programs are delivered using healing-centered care practices, empowering clients to take an active and informed lead in their own care. We help clients seek effective solutions for issues ranging from everyday stress to family crisis while learning to resolve conflict respectfully to create a healthy future.
Housing After Care Transitional Services: Assists youth transitioning out of CPS foster care with their chosen goals, hopes, and dreams. Clients access resources such as housing, education, and employment support. Diversion: Supports youth and young adults by assisting them in identifying or strengthening their natural support systems to maintain or identify safe and stable housing options. Emergency Shelter: Available 24-hours a day for self-referring youth who have run away, are homeless, or need temporary family separation. Serves as a resource for a variety of community programs. Services include food, clothing, transportation, hygiene, case management, linkage to medical care, education, etc. Permanency through Outreach and Rapid Transitions (PORT): Temporary housing for youth experiencing homelessness, ages 18-24. Youth may live in dormitory or apartment-based housing while they receive supportive services and case management to support them in their move to permanent housing. Permanent Supportive Housing: Permanent housing in which housing assistance and supportive services are provided to one or all household members in achieving individual goals as defined by youth, with a program emphasis on housing stability. Rapid Rehousing: Provides rental and utility assistance and case management for young adults and their children for up to two years. Clients work individually with a case manager on housing, education, employment, budgeting, and debt management goals. Street Outreach and Youth Resource Center: Programs available to support youth experiencing homelessness. Creates supportive relationships by helping youth navigate the housing system, providing safety planning, and providing resources for health, wellness, food, clothing, phone and wifi. Transitional Living Program: A dormitory-based housing that provides 18 months of case management and supportive services for young adults ages 18-21. Helps residents build skills and resources to increase autonomy and prepare for independent living. The Works I & II Apartments: Supportive housing provides time-unlimited affordable housing, financial assistance, case management, counseling, and life skills groups. Prioritizes services for youth with ongoing challenges to sustaining permanent housing. Young Adult Shelter: A short-term, dormitory-based housing program that serves young adults ages 18-24 who are experiencing homelessness. Services include food, hygiene items, basic needs and access to regular wellness and life skill classes. Young Parents Program: An apartment-based program that offers case management and supportive services to pregnant and/or parenting youth experiencing homelessness, ages 18-21. Program provides case management, weekly parenting and wellness classes and connections to supportive services.
Education & Workforce High School Equivalency: Prepares students to pass the GED Exam to obtain their high school equivalency certificate. Classroom education incorporates self-paced instruction, small group learning exercises, lectures, videos, and other experiential learning activities. Lesson plans are tailored to each student’s academic needs. Life Skills: Training course designed to prepare youth aging out of foster care to live independently as adults. This training is provided through experiential group learning activities, learning materials and packets, discussions, field trips, and guest speakers. Topics addressed are health and safety, housing and transportation, job readiness, financial management, life decisions/responsibilities, and personal/social relationships. Sexual Health Information for Life Transitions (SHIFT): Provides 1:1 consultation on reproductive and sexual health education, family peer support services, sexual health education groups, and parenting groups for expectant and parenting individuals. Promotes and normalizes sexual health through community events and outings and affirms personal choice. Teen Parent Services: Provides case management and group services for clients who are expectant or parenting to increase parenting knowledge and skills, foster emotional well-being, and achieve educational goals. Fatherhood Support includes helping partners understand childhood development and building a successful co-parenting relationship. Workforce Development: Provides evidence-based supported employment and supported education options to youth ages 16-26. Emphasizes rapid employment in a field of the youth's choice, ongoing job support, and connections to education and professional development.
Counseling Community-Based Services: Counseling, peer support, and psychiatric care are provided at LifeWorks sites and convenient locations based in the community. Peer support services are offered by certified peers with lived experience overcoming mental health or substance use challenges. Psychiatric care is available for those individuals desiring clinical care and access to medication. Resolution Counseling: Curriculum-based group services to help clients develop alternative strategies to resolve anger and conflict and take accountability for their actions. Youth and Adult Counseling: Provides strengths-based, solutions-focused office-based counseling for youth, their families, couples and individual adults.
LIFEWORKSAUSTIN.ORG/GETINVOLVED
"Even though their circumstances look bleak, a lot of those youth have a lot of potential. If they are guided, if they have some positivity given to them, they can really make an impact and they can do a 180." -Nicki
Former LifeWorks Client
“When I think of ‘home’ I think of love, belonging, peace. Everyone should have that feeling of home. That’s what we do here at LifeWorks.”
-Jonathan
LifeWorks Employee Evidenced-Based Practices Specialist
look h t p e e in-d hind th n a For le be sion, p o is pe ks m dcast, into r o o LifeW t our p ve!” ou o k L c che ves We “Li
North Austin Youth & Family Resource Center 8913 Collinfield Drive Austin, TX 78758 Phone: (512) 735-2400
Sooch Foundation East Austin Youth and Family Resource Center 835 North Pleasant Valley Rd Austin, TX 78702 Main Phone: (512) 735-2400 Youth Resource Center: (512) 473-9125
South Austin Youth & Family Resource Center 3700 South 1st Street Austin, TX 78704 Phone: (512) 735-2400
For more information visit LifeWorksAustin.org Follow us online @LifeWorksAustin