Family Support Collaborative Opens Two Additional Programs

We are pleased to announce the upcoming openings of two exciting and much needed programs, Adirondack Peak Experience (APEX) and Baker Valley Treatment Center.

Adirondack Peak Experience

Opening November 1, APEX will be the only non-profit, transport ready wilderness therapy program in the Northeast. Located on the site of the former Adirondack Leadership Expeditions in Saranac Lake, NY, APEX celebrates the return of former ALE employees Patrick McAvoy (Program Director), Deborah Paradis (Director of Operations), Aaron Rumsey, LMHC (primary clinician), and Sara View, LCSW (Family Program). "I'm grateful to be back in the Adirondacks and for the chance to build APEX into something special with this incredible team we've assembled, remarked McAvoy. Their commitment and passion to helping young people grow, and to using these peaks as a place to heal, will inspire the young men with whom we will work to succeed."

APEX will be a short-term (8-12 weeks) adventure and wilderness treatment program for adolescent males with externalizing behaviors, most notably oppositional-defiance, attention deficit, and issues of anger and disrespect for self and others. Due to the prevalence of substance and alcohol abuse amongst this population, APEX also provides treatment for co-occurring substance abuse disorders that do not require acute levels of care or detoxification. APEX is the only adventure and wilderness program in the Northeast which will accept youth who require professional transport services due to unwillingness to actively participate in treatment.

APEX will run at a maximum capacity of nine students through this winter, with anticipated expansion in the spring of 2014. For further information, contact Patrick McAvoy at pmcavoy@adkpeak.org or 508-274-3777.

Baker Valley Treatment Center

As many are aware, the Family Support Collaborative has been working for close to a year on the development of a treatment program on Penikese Island, off the coast of Cape Cod, designed to serve adolescent boys, ages 14 - 17, with co-occurring substance abuse coupled with "internalizing" mental health disorders - anxiety, mood, attachment and trauma. The non-traditional setting has proven to be a unique challenge for Massachusetts regulators and, while great progress has been made to address Island physical plant limitations to the satisfaction of the Department of Public Health, additional work is required that will delay licensure. Rather than delay further, FSC has decided to open this treatment program at a fully licensed site in Warren, New Hampshire, and is excited to announce that former Shortridge Academy Headmaster, Don Vardell, has been named Executive Director. The New Hampshire based program will be known as Baker Valley Treatment Center and work with the same population as the proposed Penikese program. "I am incredibly enthused to be a part of the exciting growth of the Family Support Collaborative," said Vardell. "This new position, launching Baker Valley Treatment Center, represents a "full circle" for me as I will again be serving within a not-for-profit organization as I was over 11 years ago when I entered the private, parent choice treatment industry. I look forward to working with educational consultants and their families in this new venture."

Carl Lovejoy, Director of External Affairs at Baker Valley Treatment Center and a Co-Founder of Family Support Collaborative, observed that Baker Valley Treatment Center "will allow us to serve the young adult population up to age 21, with the added benefit of close proximity to Mountain Valley Treatment Center, another FSC partner, with whom we can share resources."

Baker Valley Treatment Center will open on November 18, 2013, and will run at a maximum capacity of nine residents. For further information, contact Don Vardell at dvardell@penikese.org or 413-320-7425.

Family Support Collaborative (FSC) was founded by a team of experienced professionals engaged in the provision of specialized services to struggling youth in nonprofit settings. The mission of FSC is to share the collective resources of independent nonprofit schools and programs in a way that best supports parents and their children in achieving positive outcomes. FSC strengthens participating schools and programs by offering each the opportunity to share resources and support in a flexible, collegial way- one that offers individual "pathways" to meet each member's respective needs. For further information, contact Mary Jo DeGrandi, Executive Director, at mdegrandi@familysupportcollaborative.org or 603-726-6108.