Spring Brings Program Growth And Changes To Silverado Academy

Hello and Summer Greetings from Silverado!! The snow has finally melted, the mud has subsided, and the lawn is starting to show some signs of green!

Let me first take time to thank each of you for your ongoing support of the program, the students, and the staff. Silverado remains committed to providing the highest quality of care; we know sending your child away for treatment is a tremendous sacrifice, both emotionally and financially, and we have attempted to keep our tuition rates at a level that will allow your child to fully complete the treatment he or she needs.

Permit me to provide a brief program update; we have some exciting new developments:

Eric Fawson has recently moved back into his original role of Program Director. This change allows us to continue our vision of effectively integrating the residential and clinical teams. Each student is assigned to a specific cabin and to a specific therapist based on his or her respective treatment issues. Each cabin will now have a residential "team lead", or primary coach. This team lead, together with the cabin's respective therapist, will function as the principal decision-making group for the students within that cabin. The cabin will also have two additional assistant coaches. These cabin "treatment teams" will meet once per week to discuss problems, to formulate strategies for each specific student, and to generally check in and make sure that each coach and each shift are basing their respective interventions on the students' overall treatment plan.

Our current group of therapists have not only worked as clinicians; each therapist has also worked "in the trenches" as staff in either wilderness or residential settings. Our clinical team remains the same: Guy Finicum,13 years experience, with two years at Silverado, Brandon Johnson, 10 years experience, two years at Silverado, Jeremy Williams, 5 years experience, one at Silverado, and Scott Heaton, 13 years of experience, 2.5 years at Silverado. As most of you know, we recruit therapists who not only possess good clinical skills; we are proud that each of our therapist's style supports the Silverado model of work, love, and play. As an example, each therapist continues, every Friday, to take their cabin teams out to participate in ranch work projects (work), community service projects (love), and experiential activities (play).

We are very excited to announce that we have hired Duane Bailey to work as a team coach and to facilitate our Chemical Dependency/Addiction groups. Duane was a previous employee of mine and he is very skilled and passionate about working with students who are experiencing issues related to addiction. Duane is in recovery and has some powerful life experiences which allow him to relate successfully to young people. For the past several years, Duane has served as the Chemical Dependency counselor for Passages to Recovery, a young adult program located in Loa, Utah. Duane will "jump in" and start leading groups beginning the weekend of May 29th. He will come aboard as a full-time employee by the middle of June.

As most of you know, we pursued our current location because of its proximity to a plethora of outdoor opportunities and to the national park system. With summer now in full swing we are fully engaged in a wide range of "play". A.J. Neilson, one of our longest tenured staff members, has been promoted to the position of Activities Coordinator. A.J.'s sole responsibility is to facilitate Friday's work, experiential, and service activities, Saturday's respective Level Privilege activities, and on Sunday A.J. takes every cabin out (regardless of student levels) to go hiking, skeet-shooting, or "exploring".

Brad Porter, another long-tenured staff member, has moved into a new position of Program Parent Liaison. Brad will oversee the reception area, will assist with new admissions, and will facilitate student transports to and from the airport. We suggest, in addition, that you call Brad if you need to get a message to Mr. Pakidko or to Ms. Davis, who, as you know, are in the classroom and are unavailable during normal business hours. In a nutshell, Brad will now be the "hub" of communication between administration, parents, and referral sources. We are excited for Brad in his new role.

Dr. Crist, one of Silverado's founders, has retired, and we have hired Ryan Williams, M.D., as our consulting psychiatrist. Ryan completed his medical training at the University Of Utah School Of Medicine; in addition, he completed residencies in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Tufts University and in Child Abuse and Neglect at the University of Oklahoma. Needless to say, he comes to Silverado very well prepared. He was raised not far from Panguitch in Beaver, Utah, and, lucky for us, he felt a desire to return to his roots to raise his family.

One change that will effect some of you, given the demand for Dr. Williams' services, is that, with the exception of the initial psychiatric evaluation (which is covered with the initial enrollment fee), you will now be billed each time your child meets with Dr. Williams. Your monthly tuition invoice will reflect any visits your son or daughter had with Dr. Williams during his most recent medication clinic.

Tricia Lenzendorf has been promoted to Medical Coordinator and will work with Dr. Williams during his initial student evaluations and Medication Clinic. Tricia will be the one who will contact parents regarding scheduling and follow up for any medical or dental appointments. She will be on grounds full-time and will be the liaison to Dr. Williams and to our part- time nurse, Janet.

I hope this summer finds you happy and healthy. Again, I appreciate your support of Silverado. We love working with you and with your children.

Sincerely,

Kreg D. Gillman, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Silverado Academy