Press Release
Phoenix Academy of Austin Reopens Unit for Teen Girls
AUSTIN, TX, April 12, 2006 – The Phoenix Academy of Austin, a residential high school for substance abusing teens, has reopened its program for girls after being forced to temporarily shut it last fall. Phoenix House was able to secure new state funding for the unit, which represents one of the few resources for teenage girls in central Texas with substance abuse problems.
“Phoenix House is grateful to the state for its support and pleased to be able to resume the treatment of adolescent girls in need,” said Mike Hathcoat, Director of Phoenix House in Texas. “Girls have a different set of substance abuse problems and treatment needs than boys. We are proud of the assistance we have been able to provide to this population in the past and proud to become a resource for them once again.”
The need for treatment resources targeted to girls was underscored by a recent report from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. The report found that girls have caught up with boys in illicit drug and alcohol use and have surpassed boys in the use of cigarettes and prescription drugs. It also found that more girls than boys are new substance abusers.
The Academy primarily serves teens from central Texas but is able to accept adolescent clients from throughout the state. Phoenix House also runs an Academy for teens in Dallas.
The Austin Academy is one of eleven residential teen treatment centers operated nationwide by Phoenix House, the nation’s largest nonprofit substance abuse treatment organization. The Academy model, which combines treatment with high school education, has been proven effective in a study by the RAND Corporation, one of the nation’s most trusted research organizations. Its recent study found that teens treated at a Phoenix Academy demonstrated substantial reductions in drug use and unlawful behavior and an improvement in psychological well-being – and that the Phoenix Academy outperformed other adolescent programs in these areas.
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Laurie DeLong
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