All of that changed once she went to the Charlton School. The differences between Charlton and these other health care settings are almost too many to name. The biggest differences in my opinion are:

Personalized care.  Many places promise this, but only Charlton actually delivered.

I've said this before, and it's not hyperbole. Before Charlton, I worried that my daughter wouldn't live to graduate high school. Now I get to worry about how to pay for her college. I gave my daughter to Charlton for a year - they gave her back for a lifetime.

I've connected with many other families who have children undergoing a mental health crisis, and I want to help ensure Charlton is available for them in their time of need. I'm particularly impressed with how Alex and the rest of the Charlton team are constantly looking for ways to improve. They're not content to coast - they always want to provide even better care for the girls. And it's that ambition that motivated me to join the Board of Trustees and to donate. WhileI can never fully repay Charlton for the amazing help they gave my daughter - and our whole family - I want to help them in any way I can.

I wanted to Chair this new Committee because I think I can help promote the school through out the Northeast Corridor and motivate other committee members to do so too. As the only Board member who had a child at the school, an Alum Parent as we refer to them here, I have a unique perspective and a compelling story to share. Thank you all for choosing to work with us to increase awareness of Charlton and for prioritizing quality mental health care for young women – which there is not enough of in our society.

Everyone seems really dedicated to the kids. It's also a mental health center that takes the kids' academic learning seriously. My daughter loves learning and I found it frustrating at other settings to be repeatedly told that academics had to take a back seat to mental health. For her, they go hand in hand as academic interest and success have a really positive effect on her mental health and her connections to others.

My daughter had been hospitalized four times, participated in partial hospitalizations and day treatment programs four times, and spent seven weeks in a residential treatment center before coming to Charlton. At Charlton I feel for the first time that people really appreciate her as a person and see all of her positive qualities along with the difficulties that she has had. There has been a very healthy balance between supporting her in a positive way and holding her accountable for her own behavior.

Charlton has made a huge difference to my daughter and our whole family. She had been in crisis for over two years by the time we got to Charlton. Any step forward was followed by a big step back. It was very frightening. There was no consistency in her therapeutic treatment overtime, and none of the settings supported her academic interests and abilities. At Charlton there has really been a thorough line of progress, and occasional setbacks have been treated as opportunities for recovery and growth. I feel that all the staff are on the same page and communicate well with each other, with my daughter, and with our family. I have so much more hope for my daughter's future now. Having the support of everyone at Charlton has also been extremely important for my own mental health as I had basically been struggling alone to help her, which was a losing battle.