Lawrence Hall Opens New Treatment Center

Lawrence Hall Opens New Treatment Center

Left: Lawrence Hall logo

Middle: Lawrence Hall Youth Services Chief Executive Officer Mary Hollie addresses more than 150 Lawrence Hall supporters in the new cafeteria during the dedication ceremony for the new Residential Treatment Center.

Right: Lawrence Hall Youth Services Chief Executive Officer Mary Hollie gives a tour of one of the treatment units in the new state-of-the-art residential treatment center.

Alliance member Lawrence Hall Youth Services in Chicago celebrated the grand opening of its new residential treatment center in February. The new residential treatment center will provide a home for 48 Lawrence Hall youth.

The center uses unique architecture and design to create a community that treats adolescents who are traumatized due to abuse and neglect. The apartment-style residences include private bedrooms, computer workstations, and communal kitchens. There is also dedicated space for individual, family, and group therapy.

The new facility also includes a medical clinic and clinical service offices, which will provide more than 150 youth and families from the residential treatment center and therapeutic day school with specialized medical and therapeutic care. Another feature of the center is its vocational culinary training kitchen.

The new facility is part of the $35 million Campaign for the Children of Lawrence Hall, an effort that will completely transform the organization’s five-acre campus. Faced with increasing demand for the organization’s services and the deterioration of its physical environment, the campaign has three major goals: to create a new-state-of-the-art environment to enhance the continuum of care, to integrate new therapies, and to develop facilities that can evolve to accommodate future changes in treatment modalities. The state of Illinois committed a $3.5 million grant for the projects.