Willow Lodge Opening Supports Commitment to Growing Need

Expansion and renovation project offers nurturing, healing environment for adolescent residents

For the second time in just under a year, Timberline Knolls is set to open a new facility on campus to meet the needs of a growing population. The newly expanded and refurbished Willow Lodge will open its doors in early March, accommodating 35 adolescent residents.

The increase in capacity comes on the heels of the Pine Lodge opening, which added more space for adult residents in April 2010. The Willow Lodge project increases the number of beds for adolescents from 26 to 35, making it the largest lodge on campus for 12-18 year old residents.

Tom Dattalo, administrator at Timberline Knolls, is very excited to be part of this expansion. “Not only are we able to offer the best and most effective care to our younger residents, but now they are also able to learn and grow as a cohesive community,” he says.

The treatment of adolescents at Timberline Knolls differs from that of adults, but still works toward the same goal, lifelong recovery. For instance, the TK Academy provides three hours a day of instruction to school-aged residents. Having all of the students housed in Willow Lodge gives them a chance to live in a community which promotes an important sense of school spirit and pride, both of which are critical in achieving recovery.

Following the completion of Willow Lodge, Timberline Knolls will be home to 35 adolescent beds and 61 adult beds, accommodating a total of 96 residents. In the spring, the expansion of Oak Lodge will provide additional capacity of 26 adult beds. By June 2011, 122 total treatment beds will be available for residents at Timberline Knolls.

“Creating Willow Lodge to accommodate more residents paves a path to successful recovery for more young women, and we view anything that eases that process a great achievement,” says Tom.

Back to top^

TK Academy Provides the Groundwork for Residents’ Future

For Principal Carrie Finazzo, each school day is a meaningful part of the journey for TK residents

The learning doesn’t stop when the books close. As principal of TK Academy, an award-winning on-campus school with its own separate building, teachers and classrooms, Carrie Finazzo puts her heart and soul into the education of the residents at Timberline Knolls with the right combination of character and determination to make a difference in their lives. “We are constantly trying to create the highest quality educational environment to prepare the students for whatever situation they return to when their stay with us is over,” says Carrie.

The stay at a residential treatment center can last almost as long as an entire semester of school, which would typically put an already-struggling student behind in her studies and behind her peers – but not at Timberline Knolls. Residents attend classes that encourage their success in curricula consistent with the Illinois State Department of Education. “Or we’ll work with the resident’s home school no matter what state it’s in. We accommodate each of the residents’ school needs,” says Carrie. She also describes TK Academy as unique because it operates as a traditional educational center rather than a tutor-based program found at most treatment facilities. While the Academy’s primary focus is on high school, residents of all ages—not just adolescents—are able to participate in classes, college prep programs and other educational resources. Many of the outcomes are nothing short of miraculous. “Students discover their true potential, and realize they really love school,” says Carrie.

While the primary focus for every resident is her therapy and treatment, the value-added delivered through the education at TK Academy is as important to a resident’s recovery as the clinical component, according to Carrie. The staff at Timberline Knolls has always felt that traditional school should be available and incorporated into the treatment plans of its residents. With a typical ratio of two instructors for every 10 students, the students are able to see that, in the right setting, their intelligence and aptitude for learning can truly thrive.

“We work really hard with the students and their schools to provide the type of learning experience that they would ideally receive from a traditional schooling environment,” says Carrie. Providing this type of atmosphere enables TK residents to go on and excel in all aspects of their lives.

Measurement of the academic program at Timberline Knolls comes through direct feedback from parents and other family members once residents leave campus and get on with their lives. “I would like to make sure the staff and physicians know how much it means to me that they saved our daughter by giving her the keys to save herself. Today she is a star in a nationally prominent university,” remarked one parent from New York City whose daughter, a former Timberline Knolls resident and TK Academy student, currently attends New York University as a full-time student. “I wondered if the child I had always admired and adored would recover. One thing is clear…without TK none of this would have been possible,” he said.

Adolescent residents at Timberline Knolls receive about three hours a day of instruction from the school’s certified teachers, teacher’s aides and academic coordinator to create individualized academic plans. The students work on a variety of subjects while being taught by a certified teacher, just as they would in their lives outside of TK. Some students are even able to find a new appreciation for courses like math, and are excited to come back for more, adds Carrie.

By making TK Academy part of the overall solution for each school-aged resident and those older residents who want to pursue additional education opportunities, Timberline Knolls offers the needed real-world environment that gives residents a true sense of familiarity and normalcy, Carrie said. Much like its students, TK Academy has a bright future ahead of it and has many positive changes waiting on the horizon.

Back to top^

A Deeper Level of Healing

Timberline Knolls offers therapists a new paradigm of how to integrate faith and treatment

Many treatment centers claim to treat the body, soul and spirit, but Margaret Nagib, Psy.D., a Clinical Psychologist and the Clinical Outreach Representative at Timberline Knolls, feels that at least one third of this equation is usually overlooked. She explains that while the field of psychology has made significant gains in the importance of treating the body as well as the importance of healing the mind and soul, little is done to really heal the spirit.

“The concept of connecting a person with God and letting God heal them is something we as Christian counselors always knew we should do, but we are continually exploring the best ways to do that effectively,” she says. By using a tool developed from the SOZO ministry, an international ministry founded about 10 years ago, Dr. Nagib combines the wisdom of inner healing with what is already known about pathology. Dr. Nagib is the first therapist to bring this way of thinking and therapeutic practice into counseling in a residential treatment setting. “The world of psychology isn’t aware of the power of these approaches, but they need to be,” she says.

The Father Ladder is the primary SOZO tool used by Dr. Nagib to help heal her patients from their illnesses and traumatic memories. It examines the hurts, wounds and lies from childhood and how they affect our current relationship with God. Dr. Nagib begins by asking her patient how she views one or more members of the Godhead, which is made up of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and what she [the patient] believes the Godhead thinks of her. This tool helps us to understand how our early relationships create blocks in our relationship with God and why it is often hard for our patients to access their spirituality and faith because of this, she says. “By healing your relationship with God, and seeing the truth of how God views you, you are then able to experience God healing your spirit,” she adds.

Her first breakthrough came a few years ago while working with a young woman struggling with anorexia. “After exploring the Father Ladder, she could see for the first time what anorexia really was, through God’s eyes,” Dr. Nagib says. Since then, the young woman has lived a healthy life and was even able to conceive and give birth to a healthy baby, something she could not do before. Dr. Nagib also recalls a patient who spent years struggling with the painful memories of abuse. “She just couldn’t get past it, no matter what types of therapy and techniques she tried,” Dr. Nagib says. Once she connected the patient to God using the Father Ladder during one of their therapy sessions, the patient was able to forgive, receive healing, and move forward. “Watching people connect on a deeper level with God and receive healing from Him is truly a remarkable experience and goes beyond anything I had seen in therapy before,” says Dr. Nagib.

Dr. Nagib has conducted four workshops around the country to help educate other Christian therapists about the Father Ladder approach, and she believes Timberline Knolls is helping to establish a new paradigm in Christian therapy. “Therapists are telling me that this presentation helps give them a framework for how to bring the power of God into the therapeutic process and that as they create a space for God to do the healing work, lives are being changed in remarkable ways,” she says.

According to Dr. Nagib, many therapists have been grateful to learn more as they experience the new integrated approach. “Thank you for opening up a vision that is not just for our clients, but is for us as counselors to be impacted and stunned and encouraged,” says San Diego therapist Tim Geare. “Your words to us really breathe new life into my own practice and life.”

“As we continue to offer this presentation, it is clear that in the integration of faith and psychology, Timberline Knolls is a pioneer both in practice and education with this powerful approach,” says Dr. Nagib. “No other residential treatment facility is healing the spirit like this.”

Dr. Nagib’s next SOZO training is February 18 in San Diego.

Back to top^