Antioch University New England alumnus Dr. Alex Kirby (PsyD ’06) has launched a nonprofit residential recovery program in Asheville, North Carolina, for boys 14-17. Kirby’s Montford Hall is the only program east of the Rockies to provide long-term residential substance abuse treatment for teenage boys.
In a July 2015 interview with the Asheville Citizen-Times, Kirby said, “We are not rehab. These boys will come here to get stabilized after they go somewhere for 30, 60 or 90 days to get treatment. But rehab does not refer to continuum of care, and that’s where we are different.” Kirby noted that teenagers in the program stay for periods longer than 180 days. “It takes a long time to get into trouble and it takes a long time to get out of trouble.”
Kirby’s vision for Montford Hall began to take shape during his years as a therapist for wilderness therapy programs, when he saw a lack of next step options for the substance-abusing and addicted teenage boys with whom he worked. After creating a business plan and securing a board of directors, Alex founded Montford Hall in 2009 and spent the next several years raising funds while learning, baptism-by-fire style, about that and every other aspect of starting and running a program.
Progress accelerated in 2015, when a local foundation purchased a 16,500+ square foot facility on Montford Hall’s behalf. By then enough funding had been secured to renovate the building, hire and train staff, and market the program to referral sources. The program began accepting applications in March 2016. Learn more about the program here.
