New Haven Residential Treatment Center
Spanish Fork, UT

New Haven News

June 2008

100% of New Haven School’s Class of 2008 Accepted to College
More than 200 people attended New Haven School’s Graduation on June 6, 2008, at the Historic Provo Library Ballroom in Provo, Utah. Eighteen young women received their high school diplomas during the ceremony, fourteen of whom were in attendance with their friends and families. The girls wore white caps and gowns and received red roses with their diplomas. Attendees listened to speeches from Laurie Laird, M.Ed., Education Director; Dustin Tibbitts, LMFT, Executive Director; Jeana Lee, LCSW, Assistant Clinical Director; and two graduating seniors. Ali Robison, Assistant Education Director; Larissa Taylor, History Teacher and Teacher Leader; Rachael Kessler, English Teacher; Karl Jarvis, Science Teacher; and Dallin Bird, Spanish Teacher also gave a moving group speech. New Haven Students performed two beautiful musical numbers. Every one of the graduates has been accepted to and will be attending college in the fall. More than 200 people attended the graduation, which was followed by a luncheon for students, families, therapists, and staff.

New Haven and Sunrise Announce New Transition and Aftercare Initiative
Working closely together, Sunrise and New Haven announce their joint commitment to aftercare and transition services by creating a shared Directorship. Sarah Engler, LCSW, has accepted a position as the Director of Transition Services for Sunrise and New Haven. Having worked for the last year in another capacity with Solacium, Sarah returned to Utah on June 2, 2008 to design and direct aftercare and transition services for Sunrise and its sister company, New Haven. After earning her B.S. in psychology from Brigham Young University Sarah obtained a double-Masters in Social Work and Marriage and Family Therapy at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee. Sarah has six years’ experience in the youth treatment industry as a primary therapist, assistant clinical director, and clinical director. Sarah will provide Sunrise alumni and New Haven alumni with at-home aftercare services, proctor care services, and independent living services. As of this announcement, one alumnus is participating in proctor care and one is participating in the newly-designed at-home aftercare program.

New Hires and Promotions for June 2008
Janette Davenport, CTRS, CPCI, recently joined New Haven as a primary therapist. She graduated from Brigham Young University in Therapeutic Recreation and obtained her CTRS shortly thereafter. She earned her Masters in Counseling Psychology and School Counseling from Central Washington University. Janette has worked in residential treatment with adolescents and with patients suffering from traumatic brain injuries, and has facilitated substance abuse recovery groups at The Gathering Place in Orem. She was most recently a school Counselor for the Alpine School District.

Amanda Fahnestock was promoted to Lead Supervisor for the Sacagawea House on New Haven’s south campus. Amanda graduated with a degree in Human Development and Family Studies, with an emphasis in adolescents and families, from Colorado State, where she was also a volleyball player. Amanda had the opportunity to work at all three houses on the South Campus prior to becoming the Lead Supervisor.

Ashley Cowan, TTRS recently joined New Haven as an experiential therapist. She graduated from Brigham Young University where she received her degree in Therapeutic Recreation. She has worked predominantly with adolescents in her professional and volunteer efforts, and enjoys challenging our students with a variety of activities.

SOLACIUM HOLDINGS LLC AND WELLCORE, LLC
Sugar Land, TX

Industry Veterans Combine Forces

Anthony S. Geraci, Jr.
281-313-1908
ageraci@ranchacademy.com

April 6, 2007

Solacium Holdings LLC and Wellcore, LLC are pleased to announce a merger is under way. Solacium Holdings LLC headquartered in Utah is a provider of education, recovery and treatment programs to emotionally or behaviorally challenged youth. Solacium currently has two residential treatment facilities in Utah operating under the names New Haven and Sunrise and a wilderness program in West Virginia operating under the name Alldredge Academy. Wellcore, LLC headquartered in Texas is a provider of young adult transitional facilities for young men and women struggling to initiate positive growth. Wellcore currently has two facilities in Texas operating under the names of Fulshear Ranch Academy for young women and Transitions of Galveston Island for young men. After the merger all of the programs will operate as part of Solacium Holdings LLC.

Both companies currently receive the majority of their referrals from educational consultants and professional referrals. Solacium intends to increase that base further in 2007 and earn the support of the leading professionals in this sector of behavioral health care.

The merger is anticipated to close in May. We believe that both companies have common goals and aligned missions for helping youth and their families. The merger will be led by CEO Val Christensen and Executive Vice President Anthony S. Geraci, Jr.

If you have any questions please contact Anthony S. Geraci, Jr. at 281-313-1908.

FULSHEAR RANCH ACADEMY
Sugarland, TX

Fulshear Ranch Academy Named Volunteer Group of the Year

Anthony Geraci
ageraci@ranchacademy.com

December 28, 2006

Over the past year, the women of Fulshear Ranch Academy dedicated countless volunteer hours to the Fort Bend County Women’s Shelter.

The students aided in every activity possible at the shelter, from data entry, child care, donation organization, and more. Their services were recognized by the workers of the Fort Bend County Women’s Shelter.

A representative of the shelter thanked Fulshear Ranch Academy with a plaque honoring us as the 2006 Volunteer Organization Of the Year National Tutor Conference.

Fulshear, Texas
Anthony S. Geraci Jr, Founder
281-313-1908
Website

Visit Report By: Lon Woodbury, January 23, 2006

My visit to Fulshear Ranch Academy, a program for young women age 18 and older, provoked two major impressions. First, located on 85 acres with dorms, administrative buildings and horse barns scattered throughout the property, the surroundings inspire a feeling of wide open spaces. Being far enough from Houston to have a decidedly rural atmosphere, the property itself is Texas flat, with most of it covered in grass. This location allows a lot of privacy, as well as plenty of room for working with the horses and other outdoor activities.

My second impression was the girls' high level of enthusiasm. While in the parking lot, a group of girls returned from their community service or internships in a nearby town. Although these girls were in Phase Two of the program, we saw firsthand what might be called the final product of Fulshear's year-long program. These girls were an impressive group; they were excited about what they had done that day in town, and appeared to be looking forward to getting back to their dorms to prepare for supper and the evening activities. They were very ready to open up and visit with us. From their attitudes, and the various projects we saw that the girls had completed around the campus, these students had an obvious and healthy sense of ownership in the program.

The basic model at Fulshear is a "community based holistic approach to living and learning…" The program's goal is to work with the girls in six specific areas: Strength through academic education; Courage through nature-based skills and therapy, Love through equine skills and therapy; Respect and Nurture for both themselves and each other through holistic health; and Passion through career training. The main emphasis is for students to work on all of these goals within a strong and healthy community that takes full advantage of a positive peer culture with adult male and female staff as role models. This is supplemented by both individual and group therapy as needed.

The girls go through three phrases that last about four months each. The first dorms we toured housed the Phase One and Two students. Although some of the rooms were fairly bare, which usually indicates new students who have not adjusted to the program or settled in, many of the rooms were decorated by the girls and reflected a feeling of comfort with the program. In general, the girls who had been there for some time had developed very cozy rooms with a lot of pictures and mementos on the walls. One interesting aspect was that some of the newer girls' decorations were of numerous models and seemed to reflect the extreme perfect body awareness of our current society. I asked the staff about this because in many highly structured programs this type of material would not be allowed since it would be seen as an unhealthy aspiration toward a "perfect" body image. It was explained that in this phase of the program the girls are allowed to use these kinds of collages as an example of how extreme and unhealthy that type of thinking is; these collages are actually used as a caricature of extreme body awareness, which is one of the issues most of the girls are working on. All of the dorms were very neat and clean, with none of what is considered "normal" teenage messiness.

Moving on to the phrase three dorm, we observed how the girls had a higher degree of privileges and responsibilities, reflecting a level of greater personal independence. Their dorms were also neat and clean, but it appeared that many of these girls were actively preparing to graduate and, as a consequence, had fewer wall decorations than the girls in the lower phases. It was as if the walls symbolized the girls' mental preparations for moving on to the next step of college, work or moving back home.

The program currently has 28 girls, and the staff intends to let it slowly grow to about 35, which they feel is an optimum size. The students typically arrive at Fulshear Ranch after completing a short-term wilderness program and are willing to commit to the program because they realize they are not yet ready to go out into the world on their own.

SUNRISE New Perspectives

Jan 17, 2007, 11:20

Hurricane, Utah
Mike Crowley, Admissions Director
435-703-0012
mikec@sunrisertc.com
www.sunrisertc.com

Sunrise was acquired by New Haven, Provo, UT, www.newhavenrtc.com, on July 1, 2006, which makes it part of Solacium Holdings, LLC. Solacium also owns Alldredge Academy in West Virginia. We are assured the program and mission will remain the same, with the benefit of increased resources to draw on from the combined resources of the Solacium Holdings members.

Sunrise is a residential treatment center for girls ages 12-18 with a wide variety of disorders, including Addictions, Manipulation, Bereavement, Oppositional-Defiant, Bi-polar issues, Personality Disorders, Family Adjustment Difficulties, Post-Traumatic Stress and Anxiety Disorders, Habitual Lying, Relationship Problems, Hopelessness, Substance Abuse, Learning Disabilities, Peer Problems, Low Motivation, Victims of Abuse and Neglect, Low Self-Esteem, Depression and Dysthymia, etc.. The average length of stay is approximately six to nine months. The basic living arrangement is a home-style environment with each unit having up to four girls.

Each girl participates in weekly individual and family therapy, and daily group therapy, often in psychotherapy groups that are specific to particular issues. The program also uses Equine Therapy as part of the individual, family or groups, with enough flexibility that Equine Therapy may take place at any time by arrangement. Horsemanship or riding lessons can also be provided by the horse specialist.

Academics are accredited through NAAS (Northwest Association of Accredited Schools and Colleges) and the curriculum is comparable to any regular school, using Utah state-licensed teachers. Credits earned can be transferred to any other accredited school.

ALLDREGE ACADEMY
Davis, West Virginia

Alldredge To Join Solacium Group

info@alldredgeacademy.org
www.alldredgeacademy.org

September 28, 2006

Dear Friends of Alldredge Academy: We have several important announcements to make. As Alldredge completes almost a decade of service to youth and families, we thank you for helping make our successes possible. We have evolved into the most complete, effective and sophisticated short-term program for adolescents in the United States. Our combination of mountain search and rescue, "rite of passage" village, and academic boarding school has created a therapeutic milieu that generates outcomes in 3 months that other programs hope for in a year. We want to keep you updated on our evolution.

• • Alldredge has successfully graduated over 1,000 students from the 3-month Semester Back program.
• • Alldredge has over 150 high school graduates receiving their diplomas from Alldredge.
• • Of the 12 nationally certified search and rescue experts in the state of West Virginia, five work for Alldredge.
• • We have helped write legislative drafts of rules and regulations for the state of West Virginia to manage short-term therapeutic programs, and these drafts have essentially been implemented and passed into law by the legislature.
• • Alumni of Alldredge have independently formed a nonprofit corporation, Alldredge Family Foundation, www.alldredgefamilyfoundation.org, to serve the families of Alldredge graduates as well as families seeking placement of their children in need or crisis.

Additionally, Alldredge has from its beginning searched for ways to expand the usefulness of its unique relational model beyond the borders of Alldredge; we have found a most excellent path. Alldredge will become a member of the Solacium group, which was recently formed to raise the bar of service and safety within the adolescent care profession. Val Christensen, an equity partner in Solacium, has extensive experience in the health care industry and will be the CEO.

CIC Partners LP, a Dallas entity with equity ownership in Solacium, will provide additional leadership and financial strength. Solacium will develop new programs and seek out other programs who share common values and a desire for higher levels of excellence. In this manner, we hope to raise the bar for the profession. Another noted program that is part of the Solacium group is New Haven, a residential treatment center for girls. Agreements between the parties should be completed within a few short weeks.

Alldredge will continue its operation with essentially the same program and personnel with one exception. Angie Senic, who has been the CEO/Director at Alldredge, has made the difficult decision to leave the Alldredge family. She is planning to stay in the industry, and is currently considering a position with another company. Alldredge will miss her, and we thank her for the progress and growth we enjoyed under her stewardship.

Jim Browning will be our new CEO/Director. He has been the Assistant Executive Director, for the Alldredge Academy, and has served as Director of the Mountain Search and Rescue Program, and Director of the "Rite of Passage" Village. He has over 20 years of wilderness therapy experience, and has been with us for over 7 years. Jim knows the program, the program model and the staff thoroughly. We are excited that he has taken this position and look forward to his leadership in moving Alldredge forward. He is known for his work with students, compassion, attention to detail, follow through, competency and intelligence. We invite you to meet him personally if you have not done so already.

We are proud of our past and excited about our future. We again express our appreciation for your support and trust. We are working hard at Alldredge to be a significant difference maker. We are fortunate to associate and collaborate with Solacium. Please contact us if you have any questions.