The South Hadley Girls Treatment Program provides young women between the ages of 13 – 18 with the educational, life skills, therapeutic, recreational and support services needed to improve their behavior and ultimately return home and into their communities. These young women have often made poor choices, developed negative behaviors and/or experienced a range of trauma as the result of abuse and neglect.

Residents attend high school classes or GED courses and participate in a curriculum designed to impart new life skills to enable them to make healthier choices when re-entering their communities.

The girls participate in educational and clinical programs as well as individual, group and family therapy. They also engage in recreational activities. Therapeutic services focus on helping each young woman develop strategies to increase coping skills and promote positive decision-making. The average stay is three to eight months.

The South Hadley program also serves as a staff-secure program for girls being reintegrated into the community from more secure settings. Residents progress through a highly structured environment to a less-structured one based upon their success in school and positive behavioral changes.

Specific services include:

• Short- and long-term residential care
• Daily school
• Individualized treatment programs
• Individual and family therapy
• Structured activities