Clinical / Therapeutic Programs

We offer a school-wide behaviorally based program, The Teaching Family Model, to help provide emotional and behavioral support to our students, as well as address problem behaviors as they arise. This evidence-based program has been adapted and successfully implemented in the school setting. For more information on the model, please visit our Teaching Family Model page.

With a social worker in each classroom, we are able to provide intensive individual and group counseling, case management, and family support / family counseling.

In addition, we offer many individualized programs and services to our students. For example, students will be taught specific relaxation and other stress control techniques. Or they may participate in play activities that, while fun, are designed to address specific behavioral and emotional needs.

The students are also assessed for our Biofeedback and Neurofeedback program. This program, which uses very sophisticated computer hardware and game-based software, provides additional support in helping students develop greater self-awareness and self-control.

Art Therapy and Music Therapy are also provided for those students who either have interests or talents, or as a way to productively channel emotional experiences. The students may also participate in school-wide projects where they can show off their talents.

The school also provides Speech and Language therapy, as well as Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy.

Equine Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP) program

See a video of the Equine Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP) program!

Garfield Park Academy is excited to announce a new Equine Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP) program. The horses are a valuable therapeutic tool because they are "safer" than people to talk to or about. This allows us to use the horses as a tool for emotional growth and learning. Equine Assisted Psychotherapy has been found to be more effective than traditional talk therapy in working with children and at-risk youths. To ensure the emotional and physical safety of the children, EAP is a collaborative effort between a licensed therapist and a horse professional that are both certified in Equine Assisted Psychotherapy.

The focus of a true Equine Assisted Psychotherapy Program is not riding or horsemanship. It is experiential in nature, which means that participants learn about themselves and others by participating in activities with the horses, and then processing feelings, behaviors, and patterns. Life patterns and issues tend to surface quickly because EAP relies on non-verbal communication skills with the horses. Non-verbal communication, assertiveness, creative thinking, problem solving, leadership work, taking responsibility, teamwork and relationships, confidence, and attitude are several examples of the tools utilized and developed by EAP.

Art Therapy at GPA

Art Therapy Services have been an on-going part of clinical services at Garfield Park Academy since 1995. At GPA students with varying needs participate in art therapy to address a multitude of challenges including issues of loss, abandonment, abuse, low-self-esteem, PTSD and complex PTSD, cognitive impairments, ADHD, Schizophrenia and others. Although art therapy has been in existence since the 1950's, recent tragedies such as Katrina, 911, etc have brought national and international attention to not only anecdotal evidence but research based evidence on the efficacy of treating trauma through art therapy. Many of our children/adolescents have experienced early traumatic events, including removal from their birth parents and multiple foster placements.

Art therapy services at Garfield Park Academy are individualized to cater to the individual needs of each child. Referrals come from sending districts as well as from social workers, teachers, and GPA's speech/ language pathologist. Children who may be reluctant to tell about abuse or emotional pain through words begin the healing process and find relief in expressing their inner thoughts and feelings through art media. The art therapist is specially trained in both art and therapy, including child/adolescent development, psychological theories, clinical, spiritual, multicultural, artistic traditions and the healing potential of art making.

Art making can be a very healing experience. By gaining mastery and control over materials, students gain a sense of empowerment and improve self-esteem. Problem-solving is a skill that is at the very core of art making. One begins with an idea and then must problem solve to bring the concept to life in an art form Once the art process is begun, the task often becomes one of changing lines, shapes, forms, etc which promotes flexibility in thinking, a necessary ingredient in everyday life (including getting along with others). Students are encouraged to find new ways of looking at something, whether it is an everyday object, discarded material, or art material. Students are encouraged to use their imaginations to see possibilities beyond their usual perceptions. Much as a therapist attempts to reframe a circumstance, event or reaction to an event or emotion, students learn to reshape or invent an idea to see it in a new light. Similarly, students' feelings, thoughts and ideas are acknowledged and often externalized into an objective reality that can be more easily managed emotionally by the child or adolescent.