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Photo by Jed Wells

Aspiro – a wilderness adventure therapy program for boys and girls – came to visit last week. I was impressed and pleased with their approach to their students. They made this comment during their presentation: “Because we take our students into more ‘public’ ares such as Arches National Park, we have been accused of only being able to treat ‘softer’ kids – kids who won’t run away.”

I was struck with how similar our approaches are, and how similar the criticisms levied against us were during our first five years in business. New Haven has been around for 15 years this month. In our first five years, much like Aspiro, we were refining a more relationship-based model of residential treatment for girls. (We were tired of working in places that just applied a boot-camp or behavioral model to the treatment of teen girls.) We were questioned repeatedly about being able to treat “harder” girls – but what our critics really were wondering is if we would be able to “contain” girls who didn’t want to be in treatment.

How ironic that, 15 years later, our model is the most copied by new startups in the world of private teen treatment for girls! “Relationship-based”, “family therapy”, and “values” – all terms which were never spoken together in 1995 – are now tired old buzzwords in our industry. Even though it means competition for us, I’m glad. Girls deserve better treatment.

Why is Aspiro able to take its students into public places? Why is New Haven able to operate on 31 acres without magnetized steel doors? It’s because our students realize quickly that we love them and want the best for them. What’s more, we won’t constrain, abuse, or coerce them into doing what is best for them.

The beauty of a relationship-based model is that “tough” kids CAN be treated. No, Aspiro and New Haven don’t take highly violent kids. But we do take the very ill family systems, the kids who have internalized their problems to the point of suicidality, and the kids who have failed treatment time and again.

All good therapy begins and ends with a strong therapeutic relationship.

In November 2009 I officially documented New Haven’s support for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Building Bridges Initiative.

SAMHSA first held a Building Bridges Summit June 14–17, 2006. The purpose of the summit was to build bridges between residential and community based service delivery providers, families and youth in these ways:

• establish defined areas of consensus, related to values, philosophies, and services;
• develop a joint statement about the importance of creating a comprehensive service array for children, youth, and families, inclusive of residential and out-of-home treatment settings as part of the entire range of services;
• identify emerging best practices in linking residential and community services;
• set the stage for strengthening relationships and promoting consensus building;
• create action steps for the future.

Gary M. Blau, Chief, Child, Adolescent, and Family Branch Center for Mental Health Services, SAMHSA, was responsible for organizing the summit referenced here. Participants included residential and community-based service providers, leaders from national organizations, and youth and family leaders, as well as the Child Welfare League of America.

I’m confident that this nationwide movement, supported and funded by SAMHSA, will have a lasting impact on the scope and quality of residential treatment services in our country.

Gary M. Blau, PhD, Chief, Child and Adolescent Family Branch of the Center for Mental Health Services can be reached at 240-276-1921, or via e-mail at gary.blau@samhsa.hhs.gov, to convey your support or request additional information.