| Schools,
Programs, & Visit Reports - Dec, 1992 Issue
|
The DeSisto School
Connie Real, Director of Admissions
Stockbridge, Massachusetts
413-298-3776
Tom Croke Visit: June 4, 1992
Woodbury Reports published
an article on the DeSisto School in Issue #4, June, 1990, and reprinted
it in the Directory. In that article Lon said, "The DeSisto School is
obviously a personal creation of Michael DeSisto. There is no doubt
he is in charge...His personal time is spent mostly in working with
students' personal growth."
When I visited two years later,
I saw a somewhat different picture. There is still no doubt but what
the school is Michael DeSisto's creation, and that he has quite an impact
if he chooses. But his associate, Mike Marconi, now has a much higher
profile role, than what is reflected in that article. Mike Marconi clearly
runs the day to day operation, seeming to function as a Chief Operating
Officer, while DeSisto is a Chief Executive Officer. DeSisto is the
source of creativity; Marconi is the source of consistency. The two
personalities complement each other nicely in applying the long standing
DeSisto philosophy on a steady consistent basis.
This is one of the few structured
or therapeutic boarding schools with a personal growth program fully
compatible with and supportive of twelve step fellowships, such as Alcoholics
Anonymous.
The most unusual feature of
DeSisto School is the parent involvement. DeSisto School will not enroll
students without a parental commitment to a personal growth program
which simulates what the students are doing on campus. Parents who do
not meet their obligations lose communication privileges with the son
or daughter on campus, until the matter is rectified. Every effort is
made to retain students who want to remain whose parents default on
their commitment.
Emotional growth is fostered
in a seemingly unending series of groups. Through these groups, confrontation,
feedback, support, and acceptance begins. With an intricate web of group
meetings throughout the day, with purposes ranging from administrative
to therapeutic, and students mixing with staff in each, personal growth
work is almost constant. The environment is intense.
My day began with a breakfast
with four top staff and two highest level students, to plan commencement.
Throughout the day, I attended at least four meetings with a stated
business agenda, which included confrontation and feedback on personal
issues.
The farm, described in Lon's
description was no longer in operation as a separate location, when
I visited, although there was the functional equivalent of the farm
in the levels process.
Population was divided into
four living areas: new boys, new girls, regular boys, and regular girls.
Each living area is largely regulated by student consensus with concurrent
staff participation and review of the process.
DeSisto School's students
had a more self conscious awareness of their therapeutic process than
the other structured boarding schools I have visited. There was an intensity
here that I did not experience other places. With the intensity, and
the twelve step involvement, there is a potential to deal effectively
with students some other good quality structured boarding schools cannot.
This is a good choice for students who have parents deeply invested
in the resolution of the student's problems, and for students who are
oppositional, some conduct disorders, addictive disorders and depression,
within certain limits.
I would encourage a visit
to the school because of the intensity of the commitment involved. I
feel there is an important personality match issue here. But this is
truly a superior offering for a particular kind of student.
Copyright
© 1992, Woodbury Reports, Inc. (This article may be reproduced without
prior approval if the copyright notice and proper publication and author
attribution accompanies the copy.) |
