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Aspen Education Group
Announces
Enhancements at Local Youth Care
and Pine Ridge Residential
Treatment Centers
Contact:
Lisa Freeman
818-597-8453
March 23, 2005
(DRAPER, UT ) — Youth Care and Pine Ridge Academy, two local
residential treatment centers for youths, are announcing enhancements
to their programs, effective immediately. According to parent
company Aspen Education Group, the nation’s leader in providing
educational programs that improve the quality of life for
under-achieving youths and their families, the Youth Care
program has been expanded from two residential treatment homes
to three, thus increasing capacity by 14 beds. As a result
of this expansion, Aspen has appointed two new executives
to key positions at Youth Care and its sister program, Pine
Ridge Academy.
Youth Care’s expansion comes in response to growing demand
for personalized, clinically intensive drug and behavior treatment
programs for youths. Youth Care offers individualized therapeutic
treatment in a home-like setting for students ages 11-18 who
are experiencing academic, emotional, behavioral or substance
abuse problems. As with its other homes, the new facility
will employ its own treatment team, allowing the program to
continue providing the kind of individualized, intensive treatment
that has become the hallmark of the Youth Care reputation.
As a result of the expansion at Youth Care, Trina Packard,
M. Ed., has been appointed to executive director at Youth
Care and at Pine Ridge Academy, effective April 4. Packard
previously was executive director at Aspen’s NorthStar Center
in Bend, Oregon. Under her leadership, NorthStar Center implemented
program improvements and fostered an environment in which
students could succeed and flourish. No stranger to Youth
Care, Packard had been the director of education there in
1998 and had served as the program director at Pine Ridge
Academy for a year.
Packard holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in special education
and a Master of Educational Counseling degree. She has taught
at-risk youth in public, private and residential settings
and has counseled students with substance abuse, eating disorders,
ADHD and other issues.
“Trina’s vision, passion and experience have culminated in
a range of successes at Aspen,” said Aspen Education Group
CEO Elliot Sainer. “We’re pleased that she will be leading
our expanded program at Youth Care and taking the helm at
Pine Ridge Academy.”
Aspen also announced the appointment of a full-time medical
director, Dr. Richard Mickelsen, to Youth Care and Pine Ridge
Academy. Dr. Mickelsen, a board-certified child and adolescent
psychiatrist, has been consulting for these programs since
August 2004. Prior to that, he worked with adolescents in
the outpatient, day treatment and residential programs of
Valley Mental Health, a not-for-profit agency in Salt Lake
City. He was previously medical director at Four Winds-Saratoga,
a private psychiatric hospital in Saratoga Springs, New York,
where he headed an inpatient psychiatric team caring for youths.
Dr. Mickelsen earned a Bachelor of Science degree and an M.D.
from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah, and went
on to complete his residency in general psychiatry at the
University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington, Vermont.
Both the Youth Care and Pine Ridge residential treatment
programs provide individualized therapies for youths who suffer
with depression, ADHD, thought disorders, defiance behaviors,
and drug or alcohol abuse.
Aspen Education Group offers a diverse range of educational
programs, settings and solutions that improve the quality
of life for under-achieving children, teenagers, young adults
and their families. Through Aspen’s 30 residential and outdoor
programs in 11 states, parents can choose from a variety of
therapeutic and academic environments. Students in Aspen’s
schools and programs benefit from the experience and depth
of understanding that comes from helping tens of thousands
of youths over the past two decades.
Over the past few years, Aspen Education Group has been named
among the top 100 education companies by Eduventures, a leading
independent research firm dedicated to learning markets. For
information, visit www.aspeneducation.com
or call (888) 972-7736. To learn more about Youth Care or
Pine Ridge, go to www.youthcare.com
or www.pineridgeacademy.com
or call (800) 786-4924.
Copyright ©
2005, Woodbury Reports, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
(This article may not be reproduced without written approval
of the publisher.)
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