Residential Treatment

Sitting in her old junior high gym in Marshalltown, in an intersection between her past and her future, Amanda shares the story of how she turned her life around.

The 17-year-old grew up in an unstable home. Her parents had problems with drugs, she said. She got on the wrong path herself. By sixth grade, she was already in day treatment.

"I was a bad kid in general," she said matter-of-factly. "I didn't have limits or parents who would tell me 'No.' I never gained that respect for them to actually listen."

Amanda entered drug court as a teen. She ran away and wound up in juvenile detention. Then she arrived at LSI's Bremwood residential treatment campus.

"When I first got there, I thought I would just do what I needed to get out of there," she said. "I didn't think I had to change."

She struggled at first in treatment. Her steps forward always seemed to be followed by a step back.

She then decided to try Bremwood's independent living program. She got a job at McDonald's and held it for eight months, and then a second job at Taco John's.

The program, among other things, taught her money management, she said. She put away nearly $1,000 from her two jobs at a fast food restaurant counter.

When she was ready, her LSI caseworker Johanna Hettinga talked her into doing independent living back where she grew up in Marshalltown.

"Johanna was my main support," said Amanda. "She met my family, and she was by my side the whole time. You can tell she's here for you."

"It's great to see a teen who comes in manipulating the system then sit down and think about what she wants her life to look like," Johanna said. "Many kids don't reach that point so soon."

"She's one of the biggest successes in our program since I've been here," Johanna added. "She's done a tremendous job learning everything she could."

By the end of her first day back in Marshalltown, Amanda had already landed a job, to the envy of her peers.

"I'm motivated," she said simply, explaining how she made trips to fill out applications, made follow-up calls and did interviews.

What motivates her for the future is rooted in the past.

"I look at my parents, and I don't want that," she said. "I don't want my kids put into the situations that I was when I was young. I want them to respect me, and I know I have to earn that."

Amanda is now a junior attending alternative school at the Marshalltown Learning Academy, held at her former junior high. Her favorite subject is language arts, the one class she didn't fail during her rollercoaster of a freshman year.

She'll graduate a semester early and is considering joining the military to earn money for college.

"Maybe I'll be a probation officer." She paused, and grinned. "You probably hear that a lot from kids who've been in treatment. But I'd like helping kids and getting them on track."