Future DCS Welcome and Wellness Places

The DCS Real Estate Initiative includes nine new Welcome and Wellness Place buildings on seven campuses across Tennessee. While the two types of facilities will serve different purposes, they are being designed around the same core principles: safety, stability, coordinated care, and a calm, home-like environment for youth.

• Welcome Places will serve as short-term intake settings for youth entering DCS care. They will provide a safe and supportive place for youth while DCS works to identify the best placement option.
• Wellness Places will provide assessment and stabilization for youth with more complex needs. Youth may stay for up to 30 days while DCS and provider staff assess their needs, coordinate services, and determine the most appropriate longer-term care setting.

Both Welcome Places and Wellness Places will provide access to medical, dental, therapeutic, and educational services in one coordinated location. Bringing these services together will allow youth to receive timely care while DCS and provider staff work collaboratively to understand and respond to each youth’s individual needs.

The Welcome and Wellness Places are being designed as calm, trauma-informed environments that promote comfort, stability, and a sense of normalcy for youth.

The single-story buildings will have a residential scale and appearance, with pitched roofs, covered porches, and familiar architectural elements intended to fit naturally within the surrounding community. The goal is to create spaces that support the safety, privacy, and operational needs of youth and staff.

Interior areas will feature comfortable furnishings, calming finishes, and other trauma-informed design elements. Corridors will include word walls featuring positive, encouraging messages for youth. Outdoor play areas, fenced yards, and partially covered porches will provide space for recreation, fresh air, and quiet time.

Separate entrances and circulation routes for youth, staff, and visitors will support privacy and safety.