AIM House
Boulder, CO

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Earl House Is For Men and Women

We have exciting news from the Earl House that I would like to share with you. We have decided to make a significant and meaningful change in our programming! Starting November 1st, as many of you already know, we will begin the transition toward becoming a mixed gender program. We are excited about this change for many reasons and believe that this will generate positive outcomes for both the women who are currently enrolled in our program and the men who will be joining us. Over the years, we have discussed the possibility of offering a co-ed program at the Earl House because we have seen the growing need for services that address affect regulatory issues for both men and women.

At the Earl House, we are uniquely positioned to offer sophisticated mentoring and clinical approaches that specifically address affect regulatory issues such as self-harm behaviors, eating issues, social difficulties, addictive behaviors, relational difficulties, emotional disturbances and self-esteem issues. We have a highly trained staff and a well-structured, Dialectical Behavior Therapy skills based program. We offer services designed to address the emotional and cognitive needs of both men and women who struggle to cope effectively with making constructive life choices. We work diligently to help these young adults get back on a healthy track and to replace self-destructive behaviors with more stable and effective coping strategies. We have the expertise to encourage and support these young adults to reengage in their lives socially, educationally, and vocationally. We want these services to be available to not only the women who can benefit from this kind of high quality programming, but also the men who struggle with these same issues.

While we think that offering mixed gender services will benefit the growing number of young men who would prefer this type of programming, we also think that this will be helpful for the women enrolled in the Earl House. The participants have typically already engaged in mixed gender primary care in their wilderness, recovery and residential mental health programs by the time they enter AIM House. Many participants have already attended co-ed colleges as well. Living within a mixed gender program more closely resembles many of the normal, developmental tasks encountered in young adulthood. We think that mixed gender programming will benefit the young women because their feelings and behaviors associated with young men will become evident in the groups as opportunities to work through and resolve old patterns by behaving in new ways. The challenges that arise with the opposite gender in their daily lives will manifest in their Earl House experiences and the staff will be present to help them navigate their responses every step of the way.

We are excited about this upcoming change and we understand that you might like to know more about how we will be implementing this transition. Please feel free to contact me or the AIM House staff, so we can offer answers to your questions and address any thoughts that you might have on this new development in our program.

Elizabeth Olson, PsyD, LCSW, CGP,
Earl House Clinical Director

AIM House is a transitional program in Boulder, CO, designed to help its residents gain the educational, occupational, social, and psychological skills necessary to successfully move into adulthood and integrate into the community.