From A Former Chrysalis Parent

"" To Those Who Come Across This Blog,

I am a parent of a former Chrysalis student. My daughter graduated a couple of years ago and is living at home now, attending community college. She called me into her room the other night, very upset, after reading material posted on this blog about a school that is near and dear to her heart. I read it as well and felt it important to share some of my personal experience and feelings about the school.

I have visited Chrysalis with some frequency, once before I sent my daughter there, and numerous times while she was living there. I had the opportunity to spend a great deal of time with Mary and Kenny, many of the staff, and to get to know a number of the girls, extraordinary girls who I will never forget, who were living there during that period.

From the moment I first drove up to the story-book like property at Horse House, I instinctively knew I had found the environment for my daughter that I'd been seeking. I felt incredibly lucky that a spot was available and that she was accepted. I don't know if any of you have had the experience with having to face the reality that your child is in trouble and in need of help that you've been unable to provide.

To accept the fact that it was necessary to let go of my daughter and entrust her care to others was hugely frightening and extremely depressing. I am a single parent and had to make a very big emotional and financial sacrifice to send my daughter away. I am happy to say that I have never regretted for a minute the choice that I made.

My daughter got everything she needed at Chrysalis: clear structure, nurturing support, caring friendships, self-awareness, spirituality, self-confidence, a love and appreciation for physical activity, healthy foods and natural beauty, a feel for the importance of community service, and most of all an enduring relationship with both Mary and Kenny, two of the finest people I have ever met.

By the time my daughter returned home to live after two years at Chrysalis, she was a very different girl than when she left. She has progressed steadily (along with the occasional setbacks we all experience in our lives), performs well in school and at her job, is in a healthy relationship, and in a positive place in her life.

Our own relationship has improved by leaps and bounds. I owe this all to Chrysalis...my daughter was inspired there, found herself there, and has continued to work hard on herself as a result of the positive role models she encountered during her stay.

Clearly, not every girl has, or will, experience Chrysalis in the same way. Each girl that comes to Chrysalis enters with her own set of issues and some may leave with them as well. For my daughter, Chrysalis was the right place at the right time. I believe she was ready to receive what was being offered and soaked it up because she knew she needed help.

She has been back to visit a couple times since she left and stays in regular contact with the school. She is planning another visit at the end of this month with the intention of transferring to college in Montana in the fall.

If any of you reading this are parents who are seeking help, as I once was, I hope that the insinuations and unsubstantiated claims on this blog do not turn you away. It is heart-breaking for me to think that a needy teen might be deprived of one of the rarest, most special learning/living experiences out there because of hearsay.

Chrysalis changed my life as well as my daughter's and if I hadn't found it, or had been dissuaded by the type of accusatory comments that I've seen on this blog, I don't know where we would be right now. I encourage anyone seeking help to do your own due diligence, visit the school and let your own instincts guide your decision.

In my opinion, Chrysalis is a gem, a truly miraculous place run by two very gifted people and a lovely staff, each contributing his or her own unique skills to the whole. I was incredibly drawn there from the first, and each time I had to leave, it was with great regret.

There are so few truly good places that exist, it would be a tragedy to see one of the very best negatively affected by some of the toxic comments on this blog. In the troubled world in which we live, there are far more worthy targets towards which to sling one's arrows than the wholly well-intentioned, heart-centric community that is Chrysalis.

Sincerely,

Jacquelyn Pearle
A Former Chrysalis Parent ""