PRESS RELEASE
COMING FULL CIRCLE: NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR PROVES AT-RISK GIRLS’ PROGRAM IS EFFECTIVE
Artemis Options Society ED is giving back the support she received as a teenager
Victoria, BC – August 13, 2008 – As a 15-year-old drop out, her biggest motivation was trying to stay high. That year, she found an alternative program that turned her life around. Nearly 30 years later, Lisa Ellis has returned to Artemis Place, as the new Executive Director.
“When I was 15,” Ellis says, “my expectation was that I was going to be on welfare, just like my mom and my mom’s friends and my friends’ moms.” Enrolling in what later became Artemis Place: Integrated Life Skills and Academics for Girls was life altering for Ellis. There was no judgment of the background she brought, or the skills she lacked. Caring staff worked to build up her academic skills, and she was shown how to be part of a supportive community. “It turns out that I actually had some leadership skills and academic smarts, after all.”
For nearly 40 years, Artemis Place has provided an intensively supportive alternative program where girls aged 14-18 can work on completing high school while learning critical life skills in conflict resolution, and in building self-esteem and successful relationships.
Ellis enrolled in university to become a special education teacher, to help youth the same way that the staff at Artemis had supported her. Soon she discovered that the at-risk youth she worked with rarely “just” had learning difficulties. Almost all had social, emotional and behavioural challenges that were intertwined with their learning issues. Ellis returned to university to get her Masters in Counselling.
Ellis has never wandered far from the program she believes in, or the youth it serves. She served on the Board of the Society for Educational Alternatives, which operates Artemis Place, to ensure other youth would have the same chance at success that she received. When there was an opening this summer for a new Executive Director of the society, Ellis decided it was time to “finally do what I have been preparing to do for pretty much my whole life.”
Ellis says, “Over the years, I have heard many alumni say convincingly that this program saved their lives. This small, intensively supportive program is effective in transforming girls with the most difficult lives.” Some of the girls are struggling with learning difficulties, while others have issues such as anxiety or acting out behaviour. Many have had challenging social or family backgrounds, and some are coping with addictions. “Every girl in our community has strength and value; we need to tap into that potential.”
Girls, family members, support workers or those interested in making a donation to the program can contact Lisa Ellis at (250) 598-5183.
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If you would like more information about this topic, or to schedule and interview with Lisa Ellis, please call (250) 598-5183, or email vsea@telus.net.
