Troubled girls learn healthy communication at ThorpeWood

ThorpeWood and the Department of Juvenile Services in Frederick designed the seasonal program and have offered it for a year at the nonprofit’s 155-acre campus. Individual donors, fundraising, proceeds from the rental of ThorpeWood’s facilities and an annual endowment from Merle Thorpe Junior Charitable Trust fund the Seasons of Growth program.

Twenty-four girls have completed the program since it began. Eight girls started May 1 in the program, ‘‘Taking Care.”

In the next several weeks, the Frederick County teens will spend three hours, once each week, planning and cooking meals together, participating in individual and group therapy and working with horses. By the program’s end, each girl will have a scrapbook and journal that she can take home as a reminder of her progress.

Each eight-week program is tailored around each girl’s needs, said Gail Webber, program specialist at ThorpeWood.

In general, Webber said the girls who join Seasons of Growth are in the juvenile justice system for a variety of reasons, from running away to shoplifting, assault or armed robbery.

Most of the girls come from a wide range of Frederick County towns, family situations and ethnic backgrounds. Some girls already have family members in ‘‘the system,” Webber said, while others have no connection.

Megan Swindro, a family intervention specialist at the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services, said many girls are referred to Seasons of Growth program by the courts or the intake office, and interest in the program is growing. Swindro said there was a waiting list for the current session.

Many of the girls in Seasons of Growth have not learned to set boundaries for themselves and recognize others’ limits, and have used manipulation and bullying to get what they want, Webber said.

If you approach someone acting ‘‘big and bad,” that is what you will get back, she added. ‘‘Very often our girls aren’t aware of what they’re approaching others with.”

Horses, like humans, also mirror behavior and that is the reason why the girls will work with ThorpeWood’s Icelandic horses. They will learn how to approach, halter and saddle the animals.

‘‘There’s no guile,” Webber said of the horses’ nature.

Therapy for girls is different than it is for boys, Webber said, and works best when the focus is relationship-centered.

For example, asking the question, ‘‘What is your problem, and how can I help you?” and discussing a girl’s motivations, intentions and feelings are more effective.

‘‘[A girl] believes what you say and she expects you to follow through,” Webber said.

Swindro noted that most girls tend to internalize and take their issues out on themselves, often in the form of self-mutilation or eating disorders.

‘‘It’s very important for girls to verbalize that internal struggle,” Swindro said.

Swindro analyzed the re-arrest rates and rates of placement from June 2007 to the present, comparing the girls who have completed Seasons of Growth with those in the juvenile justice system who have not participated.

Fourteen percent of girls with no connection to Seasons of Growth were re-arrested during this time period, compared to 4 percent of girls who completed Seasons of Growth.

Similarly, Swindro found that 19 percent of girls unaffiliated with Seasons of Growth were placed in group homes or residential treatment centers, compared to 0 percent for girls in the program.

‘‘The girls have really responded quite well to all of the programs,” she said.

On the Web

For more information on ThorpeWood’s programs,visit www.thorpewood.org.