Eckerd Girls' Challenge Program Welcomes First Ohio Youth

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
December 23, 2004

Contact: Rhonda Carpenter
Corporate Communications Specialist
rhondac@eckerd.org
727-461-2990

McArthur, Ohio - The Eckerd Girls’ Challenge Program, Ohio’s newest residential therapeutic program for at-risk girls, welcomed its first youth this month. Located near Athens in the Zaleski State Forest, the Eckerd program provides a caring, structured environment which enables girls to identify and solve behavioral problems and gain the skills and self-confidence to create a brighter future for themselves.

The Eckerd Girl’s Challenge Program can accommodate 50 girls in campus-style facilities including classrooms, a computer lab, cafeteria, recreational spaces, offices and dormitories. The staff includes counselors, teachers, clinical professionals and administrative personnel. Girls, ages 12-18, are referred to the program from private sources, Ohio county juvenile courts and Children’s Services Boards or county “clusters” comprised of professionals representing education, child welfare, juvenile justice and substance abuse treatment.

Vinton County Commissioners, Ohio State Senator John Carey, 17^th District and Ohio State Representative Clyde Evans, 87^th District, worked closely with Eckerd Youth Alternatives to locate the camp in Vinton County.

“Youth across the state benefit from this program and from Eckerd Youth Alternatives’ proven history of making a difference in the lives of kids. Positive treatment programs like this provide Ohio kids with a real chance to succeed,” said Representative Evans.

The Eckerd Girls’ Challenge Program offers a therapeutic environment based on a nurturing relationship between youth and staff. Girls experience a stimulating, activity-rich environment emphasizing a positive group culture. With a focus on the natural and logical consequences of behaviors, the girls learn to take responsibility for their own behavior. It is a natural process focused on success and solutions.

“The Eckerd treatment model maximizes the therapeutic potential of all activities for learning and personal growth. Every experience, discussion, meal and routine helps these girls develop personal responsibility and self-accountability, acquire new skills and experiences, and improve emotional well-being,” said Jerry Topping, director of Eckerd’s Ohio Girls’ Challenge Program.

“The Girls’ Challenge program works to empower girls by reconnecting them with their existing strengths and helping them develop new ones. The girls are consistently treated with dignity, respect and fairness. We place a very high value on preparing these girls to cope with the less than ideal circumstances many may face after graduating from the Challenge program,” added Karen Waddell, President and CEO of Eckerd Youth Alternatives.

Eckerd Youth Alternatives, one of the nation’s leading and most respected providers of therapeutic treatment programs for at-risk and troubled youth, is a non-profit organization based in Clearwater, Florida. For 36 years, this pioneering youth services organization has been dedicated to helping kids succeed. Since its founding in 1968 by drugstore pioneer Jack Eckerd, 63,000 youth have found hope for a brighter future through more than 40 programs based in eight states.

For more information about the Eckerd Girls’ Challenge Program, please call 800-847-6061 or 740-596-5230 or visit www.eckerd.org.

About Eckerd Youth Alternatives
Eckerd Youth Alternatives is a private not-for-profit organization that serves more than 9,500 at-risk and troubled youth each year. Since 1968, more than 60,000 young people have completed Eckerd youth programs through a range of more than 40 residential and community-based programs: outdoor therapeutic treatment programs, juvenile justice programs, follow-up ReEntry programs and Hi-Five early intervention and prevention services. Headquartered in Clearwater, Fla., Eckerd Youth Alternatives provides youth programs in seven states: Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Vermont, Rhode Island and New Hampshire. For more information, call 727-461-2990 or visit our Web site at www.eckerd.org