Article written April 1990
By: Beth Rhea
Jackson-Field: Offering Troubled Girls a New Start
You might never have heard of Jarratt, Va., a small town about an hour and a half south of Richmond on I-95. And a quick drive through, you might not even be impressed with the place. But don’t be fooled – important work is being done in Jarratt. That’s where you’ll find Jackson-Field Home, an Episcopal home for girls, dedicated to getting lives gone awry back on the right track.
Jackson-Field Home, and the organizations which merged to create it, have been ministering to the needs of children for more than 130 years. In 1855, during a massive yellow fever epidemic, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Norfolk established and outreach ministry for children which evolved into Jackson Orphan Asylum. In 1918 the Field family of Purdy, Va., founded the Field Orphanage in response to a need for girls’ orphanages. The two merged to form Jackson-Field Home in the 1920’s, and since 1978 the home as focused on servicing troubled teenage girls.
The central feature of the home is a three-story, colonial-style house situated like an oasis at the end of a long dirt road. The house is graced with a portico and looks out on a wide arc of lofty elms. Within easy walking distance of the main house are a handful of one-story dorms, a gymnasium, a small chapel, and a cafeteria, the interior of which is painted light pink. The home’s isolation is so complete that on a day in late February, a visitor could hear birds singing and rain that had fallen the night before dripping from the gutters.
The quiet, serene setting is ideally suited to the home’s mission of bringing order back into disordered lives. The typical girl at Jackson-Field has suffered a host of difficulties that, even singly, might cause any young person to falter. Perhaps the most staggering fact is that about three-fourths of the girls at Jackson-Field have been physically, sexually or emotionally abused. Many have been neglected or abandoned. Nearly four-fifths of the girls are three to four years behind their age group academically; in many cases their delayed emotional or mental development is the result of traumatic childhood experiences.
Lacking a secure, nurturing family environment, many of the girls have developed little self-esteem, have learned to mistrust adults and rebel against authority, have gotten into trouble with the law, and turned to alcohol or drugs. It is not uncommon for girls at Jackson-Field to have attempted suicide or tried to run away from home.
But as Jon Hutson, Director of Programs, said, “We see problems as opportunities, not as trouble – opportunities to give help and to receive help.”
To reach girls with such troubled backgrounds, the staff at the home knows that adults giving orders would not be the key to success. Instead, Jackson-Field relies on the power of peer pressure, channeled in a positive direction. The approach, which is also used in other treatment programs, is called Positive Peer Culture, a treatment system founded on three beliefs: that one must be taught to handle a responsibility before being expected to handle it, that peers listen to each other before they listen to adults, and that altering behavior is more successful and lasting when the values causing that behavior are changed as well.
The thrust of PPC, Hutson said, is “teaching people to be responsible for other people.”
The strategy works through what is known as “group meeting,” which the girls are required to attend five days a week. Once a girl arrives at Jackson-Field, she is placed in a group with girls who are at several different stages of progress through the program. As material about the program explains to newcomers; “Group meeting is a very sacred and serious meeting. We do not play around in group meeting.”
At the meetings, the girls learn to help each other work on behavioral problems. When a girl attends her group’s meeting for the first time, she is expected to offer her “life history” to illustrate how she got to Jackson-Field. At a normal meeting, each girl concisely states problems she has experienced since the previous meeting, and girls who want to help from the group request it. Then each member recommends one person to be “awarded” the meeting – in other words, they choose the person whom they feel is in greatest need of help, and focus the meeting on her.
The members work toward a unanimous decision, often reaching consensus by putting their own needs aside, and award the meeting to one girl who receives constructive criticism offered by the group. Each meeting is led by a staff member who guides the group’s discussion, keeps it focused, and raises issues that need to be addressed.
“We increase our expectation of young people,” Hutson said. “Instead of saying, ‘They can’t do that,’ we say, ‘Why can’t they do that?’”
Much emphasis is placed on the integrity of the group. A girl’s group must approve her request for a home visit, which is not considered a vacation but rather an opportunity to implement skills learned at Jackson-Field. Everything discussed in group meeting is confidential and may not be mentioned outside the group without its permission, and it is the group which recommends to the staff that a girl is ready – or not ready – to graduate and return home.
Tammy Ellis, A 16-year-old from Petersburg, remembered life before Jackson-Field: “I wasn’t doing anything I was supposed to be doing,” she said. “I wasn’t going to school, I was selling drugs.”
Her memory of her first days at Jackson-Field: “I didn’t want to be here but I had no choice.”
At the time of her interview she had been a Jackson-Field about three months, and she recalled one of the first times she was awarded a group meeting.
“I was mad,” she said, “and in a way I was happy because they were helping me.”
According to Hutson, it is common for a girl new to the program to insist that she has no problem areas to work on or to blame her shortcomings on theirs.
“The group’s role is to sell them on why they need help, “Hutson said.
After three months, Ellis had a somewhat different view of group meetings. “It’s fun when everybody sticks together,” she said. “We have our ups and downs but we always get over them.”
She said one of the main trouble spots was “aggravating others, “ and not being able to resist people who tried to get a rise out of her. “It hasn’t happened in a couple days, “Ellis said, “but I’ve been working on it… If somebody tries to [provoke] you, then you just go on about your business and [don’t] feed into their negative behavior.”
Jackson-field offers a host of services to further each girl’s progress and enrich her stay, which lasts, on the average between nine and 15 months. Homebound Educational Instruction is available to those having difficulty in public school or who cannot attend because of physical disabilities, emotional disorders, or pregnancy. Individual psychological counseling is offered on a weekly basis to girls with extreme problems, such as suicidal tendencies, or those who have trouble interacting with a group of their peers.
Spiritual guidance is available through an Episcopal chaplain, who conducts services at the campus’ All Saints Chapel; the girls are also encouraged to attend other churches in town. According to the Rev. Sherry Mattson, chaplain, some girls participate in the chapel services by reading lessons, leading prayers, or serving as acolytes. In addition, each group of girls meets for Bible study about once a month.
Faith plays a key role in the work of Jackson-Field, Mattson said. The program has a spiritual dimension beyond the simple fact of her presence.
“[Positive Peer Culture] recognizes that every person has a spiritual dimension, and that is something we honor and want to encourage and develop,” Mattson said. “Each person is encouraged to seek her spiritual path.
“PPC is a very Gospel-based program in terms of it being one about caring for the other people and letting the god in people develop,” she added. “Loving one another – that’s what we’re about.”
In their free time the girls who have earned the privilege may work at Jackson-Field to earn spending money. They may also swim in the campus pool, participate in intramural sports or meet other young people in planned activities such as dances.
Parents are considered an integral part of Jackson-Field’s treatment program, and one of the program’s major goals is to return girls to their homes and families as soon as possible. One Sunday a month, parents come to the campus to familiarize themselves with the program, see their daughter’s progress, and to interact with other parents about problems they may have in relating with their daughters. Parents’ participation is required because they are seen as each girl’s main support system once she returns home.
Lisa Borders, a 17-year-old from Hampton, was a Jackson-Feild from Aug. 29, 1989 until her recent graduation.
Of her life before Jackson-Field, she said: “I used to fight a lot. I’d be drunk all the time…go out and come in when I wanted to.”
Her first days in the program were no picnic. “I didn’t like it because it’s hard having your peers and your friends point out problems,” she said. “Everyone in my group has run away except for me. A lot of times I wanted to.”
In nearly seven months, she has come a long way. “I’ve learned how to deal with my problems,” Borders said. “I don’t drink anymore; I don’t use [drugs] anymore. I can talk to my mom about things I could never talk about before…She’s so proud of me.”