Our Approach

While other programs focus on getting girls through school; Artemis Place is focused on getting girls through life successfully. Artemis Place provides girls with a holistic, compassionate and nurturing community.

Here, they can get help with serious life issues and progress with schooling in a small setting. The Artemis program

encompasses a number of approaches including peer to peer support, milieu therapy, attachment theory, goal setting, conflict resolution and an overall culture that emphasizes mutual support and physical and emotional safety. The intensity of Artemis requires a low ratio of clients to counsellors to create and maintain a safe, stable place where girls can attain skills to maintain healthy relationships and further their education. Our 30+-year history has taught us that girls can be the best supports for each other. We also know they learn and perform best when they feel valued, empowered and appreciated.

Artemis Place provides counselling, life-skills, and academic help for at-risk girls. Our staff includes 2 counsellors, an academic coach, and an executive director.

Educational programming is provided by the Nechako Lakes ( School District 91) E-Bus, an online home schooling program (www.e-busplus.com). Girls work at their own level and advance at their own pace with support from Artemis and Nechako Lakes program staff.

The staff is dedicated to a holistic approach to helping girls change their lives, recognizing the fundamental needs for belonging, respect, and feeling connected to others. Artemis Place provides a sanctuary where girls are able to work on completing

their high school while learning critical life skills in conflict resolution, and in building self esteem and successful relationships.

With this integrated approach to rehabilitating girls at risk, Artemis is uniquely able to bring in girls who are most troubled and transform them.

Artemis is most effective as a small, girls-only program with a low ratio of adults to teens. Our size increases the feelings of belonging and acceptance. It also ensures that girls can receive help with personal issues and have interpersonal conflicts dealt with immediately. Yet again—this compounds their sense of safety and trust.

Young women tell us they feel safest in community with other females where they can focus on their own goals. Many of our girls have experienced violence and abuse at the hands of people close to them. Artemis Place provides them the opportunity to rebuild trust through nurturing relationships in a comfortable, small setting. Girls, in general, are subject to many messages from society about their primary value as sexual commodities. History and experience make high-risk girls particularly subject to the negative impact of such messages. Artemis Place provides a sanctuary where they can learn about their true value—intellectually, spiritually, physically and emotionally.

Our Approach