Welcome to Lakeview Girls Academy

Location/Contact Information

Gender Specific Focus

Lakeview Girls Academy’s gender specific therapy is offense-specific in that therapy focuses on our female residents’ sexual offense and teaching them the skills necessary to prevent further offending. The fact is, girls receive and progress in treatment differently than boys. Further, there are definitional problems associated with delineating sexually abusive behavior in females. Definitions of female sexual abusing need to consider the power differential, motivational issues, and an identification of whose needs were met. Because females are viewed as less dangerous than males, juvenile justice resources are directed toward dealing with male adolescents, frequently through community-based programs, while female adolescents with conduct problems are placed in psychiatric facilities. While at first glance this may suggest that female adolescent sexual abusers actually receive preferential treatment, in truth, placement in general psychiatric facilities often adds to the invisibility of their sexually abusive behavior by denying access to targeted services.

Stereotypes regarding female sexuality also make it difficult for victims to disclose abuse perpetrated by a female, preclude clinicians asking questions of female adolescent clients regarding sexually abusive behavior, and make it difficult for young women to overcome their own internalized gender role stereotypes in order to seek help for sexually abusive thoughts or behaviors. With this in mind, the professionals at Lakeview Academy have mastered the ability to successfully treat girls while taking into account their differences from their male counterparts. We have learned that with girls, the therapeutic alliance is often fragile due to a female adolescent developmental trait—all or nothing thinking—either there is a relationship or none at all. The professionals of Lakeview know that without a healthy therapeutic alliance, no meaningful work will be done with these young girls.

Understanding the needs and issues impact adolescent girls allows us to be perspicacious in our work with girls and help them feel better and understood. Perhaps the most important starting point is appreciating that our female residents’ development is relational; that is, it is though relationships and meaningful connections that girls derive their identities. Likewise, female moral development is often based on ethics of care and relational bonds. Lakeview’s treatment of sexually abusive girls is based on a model promoting healthy female identity formation, relational development, sexual efficacy, and for those with abuse histories, healing reparation. Treatment at Lakeview is relational; that is, the healing of our clients most often comes from the relationship she has with her therapist. It is within the context of the relationship that emotional reparations are often made. Lakeview does not endorse a confrontational approach with our girls. We believe that strong confrontation can feel victimizing to those girls with abuse histories. It can also irretrievably damage the therapist/client relationship due to characteristics of adolescent female development. We believe confrontation is important—it is how therapists help their clients work through their denial and cognitive distortions, and increase accountability—but we also believe that it must always be done with respect and sensitivity, and stem from a strong relationship with the client. It needs to be compassionately responsive, instead of punitively alienating.

Program Overview

Lakeview Girls Academy is our sex-specific residential treatment home serving female adolescent youth, ages 13-19, presenting as moderate risk and high risk as assessed by nationally-recognized risk-assessment tools. Lakeview Girls Academy is a 24-hour (awake) intensive community-based residential treatment program. We provide maximum, non-secure supervision and intensive clinical intervention. Lakeview Girls Academy is not a locked facility but is treatment staff secure. Our Lakeview home located in Provo provides sex-specific treatment interventions in a therapeutically rich setting designed to mimic a home-like setting rather than an institutional, punitive environment. The intensity of therapy, increased opportunity for milieu intervention and 24-hour supervision (awake) with a 4:1 youth to treatment staff ratio of Lakeview Girls Academy sets the stage for public safety for the surrounding communities, as well as the necessary amount of treatment for the residing youth.

Lakeview Girls Academy is the leading, and most accomplished residential treatment program for young women experiencing sexual behavior problems. Located in the suburbs of Orem, Utah, Lakeview Girls Academy prides itself in providing help to adolescent girls through a solid integration of therapy, academic, and environmental interventions. Lakeview Girls Academy is the intelligent choice for change for young women dealing with sexual behavior problems.

• NOJOS Certified Therapists

• Gender-specific Interventions for Females

• Sex-specific, Substance Abuse, and Behavioral Treatment

• Holistic/Developmental Approach

• Individual Rooms and Bathrooms

• Community-based Schooling

• Family, Individual and Group Therapies

Treatment Goals

Taken as a whole, the treatment goals for youth residing in Lakeview Girls Academy include increases in the girl’s adaptive levels of functioning behaviorally, emotionally, socially, cognitively and psychologically, while lowering risk of sexual reoffense. Additionally, residents of Lakeview Girls Academy will experience improvements of executive functioning, social competency and relatedness, use of social skills in demonstrating mastery in their environment, and stabilization of behavior in social, school and home setting.

Lakeview Girls Academy also provides adjunct mental-health interventions to address pre-existing mental-health issues and psychosocial problems. Lakeview Girls Academy accomplishes this by providing a structure and therapeutic environment that address the youth’s individual issues and need for prosocialization through guided peer and treatment staff interaction. By helping these young women learn to regulate their behaviors and emotions, control impulses, make healthy choices, learn consequences for unhealthy choices, and increase personal accountability, they are able to become more socially competent such that they can successfully reintegrate into the community and establish a healthy support system.

Treatment Modalities and Frequency

As in any of Youth Health Associates’ sex-specific facilities, therapeutic programming for each youth in terms of frequency and intensity varies based upon the individual needs of each youth. Nonetheless, Lakeview Girls Academy includes targeted sex-specific programming using individual, family and group therapies. All treatment interventions are gender-based, and not limited to traditional approaches with males. Additionally, the youth are afforded with daily competency and skills development, traditional mental health counseling, as well as medication management services. Each resident receives at minimum of one individual and two group therapy sessions weekly. Our treatment staff are also trained to provide daily Psychosocial Rehabilitative Services for our residents.

Multi-family parent groups and family therapy occurs on a bi-monthly basis. Family therapy focuses on family dynamics and home environment associated with and responsible for maintaining the youth’s misconduct and/or problematic functioning. Key topics of focus in family therapy include appropriate supervision, safety and assisting the youth to manage their risk. Family therapy also concentrates on educating parents/caregivers regarding the youth’s current risk factors, treatment goals and supervision needs. Parent’s are viewed as part of the treatment team, and Lakeview Girls Academy’s clinical professionals make a concerted effort to empower them to be an active participant in the youth’s treatment. We do understand that some youth may not have parents, and therefore the term “parent” is used to include caregivers, and/or the primary support system of the youth.

School programming for residents is also based on the individual education needs of each youth, as well as the youth’s risk to the community. School programming may include Sex-Specific Day Treatment, Youth-In-Custody (YIC) classroom, public school, etc.

Graduation Criteria

Prior to youth graduating Lakeview Girls Academy, it is essential to develop a consensus between the placement and treatment teams that the goals of treatment have been met. Transition to outpatient services for the youth is appropriate once he has met her treatment goals and graduated the program. Lakeview Girls Academy is able to provide effective treatment that allows the youth to graduate the program in approximately 10-12 months, with aftercare and outpatient services lasting an additional 6-12 months depending on the needs of the youth. Lack of treatment progress may result in a recommendation and referral to more intensive treatment and/or supervision, and may also result in increased length of treatment.

Elizabeth Harward  “Liz”

Provo Girls Home Supervisor

Liz has Bachelors in Behavioral Science with an emphasis on Social Work (2010) from Utah Valley University. She started with YHA in 2005. Liz enjoys her girls and they love her. She provides a strong consistent role model for the girls to depend on. She strives every day to build their confidence and long term self esteem. Liz is passionate about helping each girl gain self-awareness and further love who they are because of where they have come from, what they have overcome and who they can become. “The bonuses of my job are the opportunities to be creative and use my artistic skill – whether that be designing and painting a room, helping with craft projects, writing a skit or telling a dramatic story.” Liz is a great Supervisor and we are thrilled to have her.

Jaynie has a BS in Sociology from Brigham Young University (2004), and earned her Masters of Social Work at the University of Utah (2010) where she graduated with an emphasis in Forensic Social Work. Jaynie has been working with youth since 2001 in a myriad of settings including education, non-profit work, and residential treatment. Jaynie started working at YHA as a direct care staff in 2005 and moved into a therapeutic role in 2009. Jaynie finds great joy in working with the youth “there is great potential for change and growth in youth, helping them discover their own potential is a truly rewarding experience”. Jaynie finds joy in spending time with her family, serving others, and doing anything that keeps her healthy and active.