Dr. Ken Huey – Executive Director
Hello everyone, The only rule that matters at Havenwood is that everyone in the program, including staff, will be physically and emotionally safe.
Eventually, any consequences or interventions will be tied to safety only. Given that prelude, we always do want to think relative to safety. In simple terms, our girls do not feel safe. The world is a scary and dangerous place for them due to trauma and the trauma response in their brains. We are trying to calm down their fight, flight, or freeze response. We are trying to make them relationally safe and physically safe in the world. That is the ultimate goal for each girl. Once the world is safe or they know how to navigate it safely, once they understand how to be in safe relationships in a way that they can find safety, that is when our work is done.
If we are going to create that kind of safety we must be safe adults for the girls. Power tripping and in-your-face interventions are particularly counterproductive. Safe relationships where even staff or guardians repair when they make mistakes are the goal. This is key to creating a safe environment and the girls healing correctly. I would also encourage that safety is maintained by systems. That is to say, we stick to a chosen path and create predictability for our girls. This consistency in rules that are related to safety helps create an environment that our girls can rely on and feel safe in, which is so critical for their progress in their treatment.
So grateful for the work I see happening here at Havenwood Academy. I sat with a departing student before she left and asked her to what degree Havenwood helped her. She said it was the only place that made a difference. It was the first place her trauma was actually addressed. It was the first place she felt safe, even though at times it wasn’t perfect. She felt like she got more done in 6 months here than she did in every other placement she was ever in. My chest swelled with gratitude when I heard that.
Thank you all.
Diana Baldwin – Clinical Director
Hello from the Clinical team!
We have had a pretty intense start to 2021 here at Havenwood, and throughout the world. Your daughters have handled these ups and downs with more grace and understanding than we could have ever anticipated. From being quarantined, to having many of their therapists and staff out sick, they still pushed through. The resilience they demonstrate every day continues to amaze me.
I am very excited to be the new Clinical Director and to continue being apart of this great organization. The vision and future here looks incredibly bright. We are creating the optimum situation for your daughter to finally heal and move through her struggles, and we are committed to walking with you through all the many ups and downs.
You will continue to hear about the positive shifts and changes we are making to really create this healing environment. One of these changes is adjusting some of our groups to make them more experiential and trauma informed. We know that talk therapy or processing only groups isn’t enough to work through the deeper trauma many of our girls have. To truly heal this, we are working to incorporate some of Bruce Perry’s 5 R’s of Trauma Healing into our therapy, groups and every day life here. You probably have heard and will continue to hear a lot about the 5 R’s, which are- Relational (safe), Relevant (developmentally matched to the individual), Repetitive, Rewarding and Rhythmic (resonant with neural patterns).
I have worked in a lot of treatment centers over my career and I can confidently say, that this team is the most invested and passionate that I have worked with. We truly love all of your daughters and take their care incredibly seriously.
Scott Sharpe – Education Director
Hello Parents,
As you are already aware, this past month has been tough due to Covid hitting us. I too got sick about the same time that some of the girls did and had to quarantine for 10 days. As always, my teachers stepped up and took care of providing the best educational experience under those difficult circumstances. They are all heroes and we are all so fortunate to have such amazing teachers and staff. Mrs. Lopez volunteered to go to Havenwood North to be with those that were sick. We took out Chromebooks and school supplies and had school as much as possible. Mrs. Espinoza and Mr. Fife remained at the school to take care of those that weren’t sick. We are back to “normal” and all of the girls are back to school. A huge thank you to our amazing teachers and staff.
Parent Teacher Conferences will be Thursday, February 18th from 3:00-5:00 MST. I sent each of you an email with instructions on how to sign up. Each conference will be with your daughter’s teacher instead of all of the academic staff together like we have done in the past. Once sign-ups are complete, we will send you the video conference link. We look forward to visiting with you and discussing your daughter’s academic progress. Thank you so much for your support. It is a privilege to be a part of your daughter’s journey here at Havenwood Academy.
Chase Morgan – Program Director
This past month was pretty interesting. We rang in the new year with the girls staying up and celebrating entering 2021. Then, not long after that, we went through our covid outbreak, and we were all very proud of the way our girls handled that. There was an opportunity for a pretty intense anxiety to build up, and for the most part, everyone handled it well and we got through that moment. The girls are all back to the regular schedule now and getting back to life. In other news, my last day will be February 15th. I have an opportunity at another program that I will be taking. I am sad to be leaving this place and all the people here, and I am looking forward to the changes that are coming! Thank you all, and you will all always have my good vibes sent your way!
LoraLynn Jones – Equine Director Greetings everyone, Our Equine Team hopes that everyone’s Holiday season was blessed with good health and continuing to do so.
Over December and January we have worked on several different issues the girls struggle with including: communication, being responsive instead of reactive, learning about taking accountability which takes being vulnerable, being able to recognize and express different emotions they feel (including overcoming the fear of communicating the words, “I love you”). Through the horses and the activities, the girls are able to experience and observe things about themselves even the hard things that they choose to avoid. It’s humbling and exciting to see the “break-through” moments they have which helps them to open up in therapy even more.
In Horsemanship, the girls continue to learn about the Five Languages of Love, by Dr. Gary Chapman. Through practicing the love languages with the horses, the girls are understanding better ways to communicate with others which in turn builds healthy and better relationships. As we learn the different love languages it’s fun to hear them talk about their families, guessing what love language each family member is and expressing why they think so.
It is a privilege to work with such amazing young women. We love your daughters and we love being a part of their healing process and watching them grow as they work through their therapy program. With Spring around the corner, we are in hopes that all will be able to enjoy happiness and good health. May God bless you always!
About Havenwood: If you’re new to our newsletter, welcome! We are Havenwood Academy. We specialize in helping young women dealing with trauma and attachment related issues. If you or someone you know has a daughter that may be struggling, we encourage you to fill out our online assessment so our team can help you determine if treatment may be a solution for you. If you want to learn more about the specifics of our program, visit our webpages. We have a unique therapeutic approach to helping our young women and a fully accredited school where they are able to earn transferable credits and even obtain their high school diploma if they are close enough to graduation when they come into the program.
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