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To meet the increased demand for more services aimed at helping young women, plans are underway to open a third cottage at Montcalm School for Girls in Van Wert.

Construction will begin July 22 to transform Mason Cottage, which previously has housed young men, into a girl-friendly residence. Girls enrolled at Montcalm currently live in Edward Starr and Clara Starr Cottages, but the addition of the third cottage allows for 13 more young women to receive the therapeutic services offered by Montcalm.

"This is exciting news for our program and for the community of Van Wert as it is a temporary home and refuge for the young women and families finding help through Montcalm School for Girls," said Hugh Kocab, Director of the Van Wert site.

Starr Commonwealth, the parent organization of Montcalm Schools, opened the girls program in Van Wert in 2004. The opening of the third cottage comes as the School also celebrates its third anniversary. The goal is to open the renovated Mason Cottage and begin housing girls in early October. The young men of Mason Cottage are being transferred to Starr Commonwealth's Hannah Neil Center where they will continue to receive the same services and treatment.

Through its strength-based practices and focus on positive peer culture, Montcalm School for Girls has helped as many as 74 young women and their families since its inception. It's due to those successes and credibility that the program is expanding.

"More and more parents of troubled teenage girls are looking toward our services and in large part it's due to the success stories they've heard about from other families and children," Kocab said.

Montcalm Schools is a private, therapeutic residential program for young men and women ages 12 to 18. Through strength-based practices and positive peer culture, Montcalm helps troubled teens who struggle in school, abuse drugs, suffer from depression and low self-esteem and those dealing with issues such as ADHD, ADD, physical and emotional abuse, Autism and Asperger's Syndrome.

For more information about Montcalm Schools, please call 866-244-4321 or visit
www.montcalmschools.org.