Matt Reffitt is Shelterwood’s new director of food services, responsible for keeping our students fed, fueled and healthy. Matt trained at The Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago and created in a wide variety of kitchens (hotels, restaurants, fraternity houses, and summer adventure camps) before arriving at Shelterwood this month.
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September has us reflecting on what makes academics at Shelterwood so special. We’ve written before about Shelterwood’s cutting-edge accreditation and how to prepare students for life after high school. Today, we want to look at how teaching at Shelterwood is unique as well. Shelby Wade is Shelterwood’s Independent Studies Coordinator.
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We spend a lot of time thinking and talking about teens and technology at Shelterwood. Today’s young people are deeply impacted by almost unlimited online access, smartphones and social media. Always-on technology can be a powerful tool for connection and an enemy of true social engagement. Melissa Winston is a
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Shelly Moss knows that there is a lot of anxiety and heartache on the other end of her phone line. By the time parents call Shelterwood, they have tried many other options to get their struggling teen help. They need hope, and they need it fast. What they do not
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One of Shelterwood’s goals is to help each student prepare for adulthood. The young people who come to Shelterwood are often dealing with challenges that derail forward thinking. Instead of focusing on college and career preparation, struggling teens and their families are mired in crisis management. Shelterwood is a safe
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On June 28th, Shelterwood was awarded The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval® for Behavioral Health Care Accreditation. The Joint Commission is a nonprofit health-care accrediting organization that sets quality-care and patient-safety standards for hospitals, home health care providers, nursing care centers, and more. The Joint Commission has been accrediting
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Like all of life at Shelterwood, meal times are centered on relationships. Every day, students here have breakfast and lunch all together followed by separate dinners for girls and boys. Savannah Morgan, Shelterwood’s interim food service director, says that the dining hall offers one more opportunity for staff to make
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The last few weeks of summer can be tough on the whole family. As preparations for the school year go into overdrive, so can teens’ stress and anxiety. The trepidation can come from a multitude of sources: academic pressures, fear of failure and the possibility of bullying are common reasons
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An article by Alon Shwartz, founder of unGlue, an app that helps families manage technology boundaries, has been making the rounds at Shelterwood. In it, he shares a conversation with Dr. Michele Borba, author of Unselfie: Why Empathetic Kids Succeed in our All-About-Me World. Borba connects big dips in empathy
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Shelterwood is a member of the National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs (NATSAP) and a recipient of NATSAP’s Gold Seal. “The gold seal recognizes research-designated programs,” says Amy Hobson, Shelterwood’s research coordinator. “These are programs that continually gather information to assess their effectiveness in meeting the needs of clients,
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