From Troublemaker to Dean’s List; How Donor Dollars Can Help

From Troublemaker to Dean’s List; How Donor Dollars Can Help

Charlie loved playing with his best friend, his god sister. Family marveled at their closeness. But when Charlie was four years old, his god sister died – and a storm took hold of Charlie and wouldn’t let him go. It wasn’t a physical storm. It was a mental cyclone – and it shook him and changed him. As his family watched uncomprehendingly, Charlie burst into severely destructive, angry behaviors. And the storm inside him kept raging.

Despite taking a combination of ADHD, antipsychotic and bipolar medications, Charlie’s behaviors grew worse. The violent inner storm pounded at him without stop. He was expelled from every day care program.

By the time Charlie began working with a David Lawrence Centers (DLC) therapist weekly in the school system, he had a label – “troublemaker.” In just one school year, his teachers wrote more than 200 referrals. Charlie was verbally aggressive, impulsive, brought weapons to school, refused to do homework and got into physical fights with teachers and students.

Charlie’s mother, a single parent with three children, was at the end of her rope. “I couldn’t keep a job because of the constant calls from the school,” she says. “I was having panic attacks and was very stressed.”

Coming to DLC was the start of a powerful change for Charlie. DLC’s expert pediatric mental health specialists provided team-based integrated care, using best-practice strategies that included parental guidance in the home, positive reinforcement and teaching Charlie what triggered his anger and how to cope appropriately with the emotions. What’s more, at DLC, the boy was finally diagnosed with an emotional handicap, which made him eligible for a special education class with significantly fewer students and lots more personal attention from teachers.

Thanks to advanced treatment services from DLC, Charlie went from troublemaker to Dean’s list.

Now 12 years old, Charlie sees a DLC outpatient counselor monthly and is effectively managing his ADHD symptoms with medication. With happy tears in her eyes, his mother says, “Charlie has friends now and is making better choices. He volunteers at church and can recognize and feel good about his own success. I am extremely thankful for the help we both received from David Lawrence Centers . I never could have done it on my own.”

Your compassionate gift to David Lawrence Centers ensures that terribly young children and their distraught families never have to “do it on their own.” Your donation today enables our expert pediatric mental health professionals to be there for every child and family who needs us, providing the world-class mental health treatment and loving care that restores and rebuilds lives.

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Aug 30, 2016 | Blog

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