Our school manifested out of our commitment to find a way to work with young people in need of a new way to be in the world. For a few years before the school formed, we were working with teenagers through a week-long workshop we developed called Living Inside Out. Our objective was to meet a need expressed by parents who were looking for answers: They were seeking to help their teenage children remain safe from unhealthy peer group pressures, failing grades, depression, explosive anger, bullying and from the allure of drugs, sex and violence.
For nearly three years we worked hard to find ways to integrate Living Inside Out into the public and private education system in Ontario. We were encouraged by accolades from teachers, students and administrators. Yet ultimately, we were encouraged to move with a different strategy, this one owing to the inertia of the educational system. Rather than bring the emotional growth program Living Inside Out to the school system, we decided, we would bring the educational system to Living Inside Out! And so we opened Canada’s only emotional growth/therapeutic boarding high school for girls.
And here’s the amazing part. While most independent schools involve years of planning before they actually open, ours didn’t. Our concept to development phase ― that is, from the moment the idea originated to the point where we had a fully operational school with students, teachers, counsellors and structured timetables ― took 39 days.
Rocklyn Academy itself is subject to the emotional growth environment it provides. It is evolving from its early days as, well, an adolescent repair shop to a leadership school where Special Girls are becoming Extraordinary Women. Over the years, we have observed a remarkable trend: Students at Rocklyn Academy share common powerful characteristics. They are highly sensitive, intuitive, creative and intelligent. However, these characteristics are often overshadowed by more visibly challenging behaviours, such as defiance, anger, depression, manipulation, failing grades, and tendencies towards risk and drug and alcohol abuse. The bridging characteristic between these positive and negative characteristics is, invariably, low self-esteem. It’s a pivotal point.
Many organizations focus their strategies and resources on these negative behaviours and the accompanying need to help young women reduce or eradicate them.
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Rocklyn is taking a different approach.
We concentrate on utilizing the positive traits ― the high levels of sensitivity, intuition and creativity and intelligence ― as gateways to help young women with these special gifts use them to become extraordinary women. By offering a paradigm that validates and celebrates these traits ― sensitivity, intuition, creativity and intelligence ― young women at our school are supported in directing themselves to be empowered, naturally, to reposition themselves. Instead of feeling like outcasts and deficient, they are given the opportunity to develop compassion and a deep appreciation for the advantage that comes when life can be perceived as magical. This re-casting of the perception of life ― this understanding that intuition and creativity can be fundamental to one’s appreciation of life ― can be the turning point for young women to blossom into true role models of a new breed of leadership that the world currently needs.
When sensitivity is balanced with boundaries, intuition balanced with reason, creativity balanced with compassion and intelligence balanced with education, special girls can become extraordinary women.
We are embarking on the next phase of Rocklyn Academy’s evolution. Enquiries and enrollments are growing, with most originating from within Canada, specifically Ontario. Along with this growth in demand, there have been increasing requests to provide year-round support for students. Many families find themselves in crisis at times approaching the summer break, March Break and even Christmas. To help in these times, we have decided to remain functional 365 days per year. Students can be enrolled at any time (provided there is room) and accordingly, the student can be given the appropriate length of time needed for her to “earn” home visits.
Early September to mid-June remains the typical academic year of the school, comprised of the Fall/Winter Semester and the Winter/Spring Semester. The 12 weeks from mid-June to early September define Rocklyn’s Summer Semester. During the Summer Semester, students are primarily involved in a structured outdoor recreational and fine arts program that is designed around fun while still delivering two academic credits.
With much appreciation,
 
Dale Stohn and Robert Shaw
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