Breakthrough was founded in 2006 by Christopher Patterson, a veteran of the foster care system.
Breakthrough provides a highly structured, fully staffed residential setting in local neighborhoods--six in Spokane, and two in the Tri-Cities. We mentor our DDA clients, who have intellectual disabilities, and our BRS clients, who have challenging behaviors, toward the creation of safe, appropriate, ethically sound life goals. We integrate programs at school and home to enrich their lives.
We don't claim to be perfect or guarantee a solution. But we work hard to make a positive difference. Within our first year of operation, we celebrated a resident's high school graduation and other residents' return to their biological families' homes and foster homes. We continue to celebrate success when our residents:
- Graduate from high school
- Gain job and career skills and become employed
- Attend college after graduation
- Advocate for themselves and get their needs met after they leave our program
- Return to their biological family or foster home
- Spend extended time with their families
Diagnoses effect people differently, so our service to each resident is unique, giving us the opportunity to grow and evolve.
Milestones
We have grown our locations by number so that we can continue to provide services to residents with intense mental health diagnosis and emotional and behavioral results, as well as residents with developmental disabilities.
- We've grown from two programs to eight:
- 4 BRS programs
- 4 DDA programs
- Our capacity to serve has grown from 10 to 33 residents.
- We have created specific houses and programs for residents who require single care.
- July 2010: Opened our girls' home.
- October 2010: Received our first DDA contract and began to serve the DDA population.
- March 2012: Moved our main office to the professional space we now occupy.
Awards
- 2012 DDA LSR (Licensed Staff Residential) of the Year
- 2013 DDA VPS (Volunteer Placement Service) Agency of the Year
- 2013 Tri-Cities Program recognized by DDA for providing outstanding support and compassion to their clients
- 2015 Tri-Cities Program recognized again
Testimonials
"In the four years that our grandson has been a resident at Breakthrough, he has improved tremendously. He is now able to control his behavior so that we are comfortable taking him into most any social situation with confidence that he will behave appropriately."