About Germaine Lawrence

Germaine Lawrence provides the highest quality residential treatment services in New England for troubled adolescent girls.

We serve girls whose behaviors may include school failure, suicide attempts, cutting, sexually acting out, drug or alcohol abuse, running away, eating disorders, aggression, or firesetting.

We provide personalized treatment through comprehensive clinical services, a supportive special education program, and a highly structured therapeutic milieu. We offer a comprehensive continuum of services that helps girls reduce destructive behaviors, develop age-appropriate social skills, and make enough progress to enable them to live at home or in the community safely again.

The effectiveness of our programs rests on our singular focus on adolescent girls and our high professional standards. This allows our staff to be well trained for the unique issues presented by the girls with whom they work, and to achieve success with girls who have been unsuccessful in other placements.

We have clinical specialties for:

• Girls with eating disorders
• Girls who are sexual and physical abuse survivors
• Girls with sexually aggressive behavior
• Girls with firesetting behavior
• Girls with oppositional and impulsive behavior
• Girls who have been sexually exploited
• Girls with substance abuse problems

In addition, our STARR Program and Cynthia Browning Treatment Center are short term assessment programs designed to stabilize high-risk behaviors and evaluate the girl and family’s needs for services in the future. We also have a group home to support girls as they return to public schools and more independent living.

Our three-acre campus in suburban Arlington Heights can serve almost 100 girls in six custom-designed treatment centers. The campus also has our administrative offices, gymnasium, fitness center, and outdoor recreation spaces. We recently opened a teen center on campus, which is a special student-oriented place on campus for girls who have earned the privilege to enjoy our game room, relax, be active and socialize with their peers.

The average length of stay for all programs except the STARR Program and Cynthia Browning Treatment Center is about twelve months. Girls usually remain in our short term programs less than three months.

Our Mission

The mission of Germaine Lawrence is to provide adolescent girls the highest quality residential treatment services with the goal of strengthening their relationships with their families and preparing them for productive, independent lives.

Further, it is the mission to design, implement, and disseminate treatment approaches that define new standards of excellence in the field, and through this leadership to improve the quality of care available to troubled adolescent girls.