This week the girls attended the Utah Shakespeare Festival’s children’s production of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. I was especially excited to take our students to this show because it was a tradition for my family to see it every year. I grew up with the characters of Bob Cratchet, Ebenezer Scrooge, Tiny Tim, [...]
I finally made time to read the book “Man’s Search for Meaning” by Viktor E. Frankl, and I am sure glad I did. What a perfect time of year to read this book. With Thanksgiving behind us and Christmas coming fast it really brought the feelings I was wanting. The reading helped me be grateful [...]
We recently had a student transition group. This group consists of girls who have returned home (some for several years) and those who are preparing to go home. The group is aimed at assisting them make a smooth transition home. It is interesting to see the transition process each girl and family goes through when [...]
In my recent reading I ran across a quote that echoes my feelings about reading and books. “Books are not ‘lumps of lifeless paper’, but minds alive … speaking to us mind to mind, heart to heart.” – Gilbert Highet Our librarian, Steve Irving, came yesterday to conduct a book talk with the girls. He [...]
I believe the transition from residential treatment to home is critical and needs to be given extra attention. Sunrise offers several options for families during transition. One of these options is a home visit. This allows us to take what the family has been learning and help them to begin to apply there skills at [...]
As the holidays are upon us (so fast this year!) I look back on the past year. I am so grateful for the job that I have and the opportunity that I get to teach everyday. The people that I work with are caring and really know how to work with these students to help [...]
Practicing gratitude is something we encourage here at Sunrise. Many girls here keep something called a gratitude journal. This is actually part of level 5 work but some choose to do this prior to it being a requirement. A gratitude journal is just that, a journal in which we write down those things that we [...]
Reflect On All That You Have To Be Grateful For And You Will Receive More To Be Grateful For. … goodness sends.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson In 2003 Robert Emmons conducted a study among students at UC Davis. He assigned students to keep journals as part of a semester-long assignments. Some of the students were required [...]
As we approach the holiday season, it is important to remind ourselves that stress is a big part of the holidays. If you are anything like I am, when Aunt Edna starts to get on your nerves, the ready remedy is a big piece of fudge. Or perhaps it’s the extended stay of your beloved [...]
The brush and trees made excellent cover as balls whizzed past us. One struck Katie on the helmet and bright orange paint splashed all over my mask. A ball struck painfully into my arm before I could return fire. The score was 2-0. The girls were ambushing the staff from two sides when a student [...]
Cutting is generally not done with suicidal intent, though teens who engage in self-harming behaviors are at a statistically higher risk for suicide. Despite what teens may report, Sunrise views these acts of self-mutilation as not representative of typical or harmless adolescent behavior. Self-harming behavior is symptomatic of serious underlying emotional or mental health issues [...]
November seems to be a month of reflection as people contemplate the meaning of Thanksgiving and what they are thankful for in life. Throughout this month, I have reflected on the meaning of gratitude and how I express it in my life. Gratitude is a feeling of thankfulness for blessings or benefits we have received. [...]
Today I walked into our 4th period Spanish class just moments before class started. I had just come from a lunch-time faculty meeting and the stress of the previous six hours of the day were really wearing on me. I hurriedly got the girls started on the “Bienvenido,” an activity where a student welcomes the [...]
I love this quote by Albert Einstein. I believe that we have all experiences what this is like. Either through us, or through someone we may know. We know our strengths and the strengths of our students. Our students are very talented and all talented in different ways. We try our best to bring out [...]
We recently returned from an amazing trip to the Havasupai reservation in the Grand Canyon. This trip provided our students with the opportunity to enjoy nature and the outdoors, build healthy connections, challenge themselves physically, and have fun! Our trip lasted 4 days and included 20 miles of hiking in one of the most beautiful [...]
Change is a topic of conversation in many of my sessions with girls and their families. Obviously, this is what occurs at Sunrise through hard work and dedication of the individuals and families that are here. “Who Moved My Cheese” is a book that many are familiar with, we read this book and discuss it [...]
It was a beautiful, crisp fall morning. Birds flying across the brightening sky line, the sun rising through the clouds at the track. In the distance you can see the Students at Sunrise Academy; they are counting the laps they had run around the football track. 8 laps was the required amount for a passing [...]
Divorce, even under the most amicable of circumstances, represents a trauma for the family system, impacting not only the couple, but all members of the family. Many parents in therapy quite aptly describe their experience of divorce as a kind of death. It is a loss of shared dreams and goals as well as a [...]
Recently, I was reminded of the story, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, at a conference I attended. The story goes something like this—For years, a mysterious and lone candy-maker, Willy Wonka, produced marvelous treats from his candy factory. However, the factory suddenly closed a few years ago and then mysteriously began making candy again without [...]
There is a quote from Mariane Williamson that states: “In the midst of darkness there is the possibility of light.” More often than not, parents are in crisis mode when they bring their daughter to Sunrise. In that moment of time many parents may feel completely engulfed by the darkness with little hope of a [...]
A C C E P T A N C E. The last post was on acceptance and I want to go into a little more detail and take a little different angle with it. In the big book of alcoholics anonymous (AA) on page 417 it states “And acceptance is the answer to all my [...]
I have been reading a book recently titled, Parents, Teens & Boundaries by Jane Bluestein, PhD. It makes some good points I want to share. I think many times people can confuse acceptance to mean that we are loved. Of course, loving unconditionally means accepting someone for whom they are completely. Many adolescent girls struggle [...]
At Sunrise, we know that every girl is different. Because each girl possesses a unique constellation of experiences, talents, relationships, and struggles, Sunrise offers a teen residential treatment program that is customized to meet her special needs. Sunrise works to uncover the academic, social, and emotional potential of girls who have been held back by [...]
I recently read an excerpt from a book called Teach Like Your Hair’s on Fire by Rafe Esquith that I found very interesting. It is based on the concept of moral development which was originally developed by Lawrence Kohlberg. According to this concept there are six levels of moral development and at the core of [...]
We went on a really great hike for our last two Friday school outings and I got to have some very nice conversations with students and staff. There is definitely something about nature that makes you appreciate the little things in life. There is a calming effect that happens when we are out on our [...]
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