History of Germaine Lawrence

Our beginnings go back to 1909, when an Episcopalian priest at St. John the Evangelist Church in Boston, was looking for a place to care for the orphaned children in his parish.

A young woman, Etheldred Barry, offered her home, grounds, and a small chapel she had built as a Sunday school for neighborhood children. She agreed to provide not only the space, but also her services as caretaker. She and the other women working with her established the Order of St. Anne convent.

As the orphanage grew, so did its campus, and in 1928, St. Anne's School was established to educate the children. St. Anne's School thrived as a private, Episcopalian boarding school for girls for 50 years.

In the 1960's and 1970's, the Department of Social Services and local school districts began to rely on St. Anne's to educate girls who were struggling in public schools because of family or behavioral issues.

By the late 1970's, the tuition of all the girls at St. Anne's was being paid by the state. The girls needed more support than what a traditional boarding school model could provide. Pressure was being put on the Sisters to develop more structured programs. The Sisters decided to legally separate the school from the Order. In 1978, a lay Board of Directors was formed and in 1979, they hired David Hirshberg as the Executive Director.

In 1980, Germaine Lawrence School was established as a residential treatment center. The name, Germaine Lawrence, was chosen in honor of Mother Germaine, the Mother Superior of the Order of St. Anne, and her family (the Lawrence's) who had contributed significantly to St. Anne's School.

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Major Milestones

Since our founding in 1980, Germaine Lawrence has continued to grow and adapt to meet the needs of troubled girls.

Some of our milestones over the past twenty-five years include:

• 1984 - Developed a specialized treatment protocol for girls with life-threatening eating disorders. By developing this expertise and establishing an affiliation with Children’s Hospital, we have had overwhelming success treating anorexia nervosa, bulimia and binge eating.
• 1985 - Developed and implemented a multi-faceted approach to dealing with running-away behaviors. In the first year of this program, incidents of running were decreased by more than 60%.
• Developed a specialized protocol for sexual abuse survivors, one of the first and most comprehensive of its kind.
• 1992 - Developed a program specifically for pre-adolescent girls, as well as a hospital diversion program.
• 1993 - Began providing treatment for female sexual offenders, the only specialized program for this population in New England.
• 1994 - Constructed the Jane Addams Treatment Center, a facility for girls with issues of violence and aggression or who are sexual offenders.
• 1995 – Developed a specialized treatment protocol for female firesetters.
• 1997 - Opened the only residential treatment program for girls in the city of Boston: Germaine Lawrence at the NFI Center
• 2000 - Selected as one of five Enhanced Residential Care (ERC) program sites in Massachusetts by the Department of Social Services.
• 2001 - Opened the Saul M. Hirshberg Treatment Center, a state-of-the-art facility, serving girls with substance abuse issues
• 2001 – Adopted and began implementing the Campus Master Plan
• 2001 – Working with a university based social scientist, developed and implemented a follow up study so that we could track the progress of our students after discharge and refer them for services if they were in need.
• 2002 – Convent was bought and renovated to house the Boston program, which moved to the Arlington campus and was renamed after Muriel Snowden
• 2003 –Broke ground to build Cynthia Browning Treatment facility for the Georgia O’Keeffe program
• 2004 – Initiated home-based services for girls and their families after they are discharged in order to provide supports during this critical transition period.
• 2005– Opened the Cynthia Browning Treatment Center.

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2004 Germaine Lawrence Outcomes

85% of Germaine Lawrence students leave their programs successfully.

93% of Diagnostic Center students leave the program successfully.

89% of former students surveyed stated Germaine Lawrence services helped them better their lives.

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Recent Awards:

In 2003 Germaine Lawrence was honored to receive two distinguished awards:

The New England Chapter of the Society for Adolescent Medicine gave Germaine Lawrence its Neela Joshi Award for being the “Outstanding Adolescent Health Care Provider in New England”

The Massachusetts Coalition of Juvenile Firesetter Intervention Programs presented Germaine Lawrence with its annual Clinical Community Service Award.

In 2006, Middlesex County District Attorney and Attorney General-elect Martha Coakley presented Germaine Lawrence with a Special Achievement Award for Contribution and Sacrifice for the Delivery of Justice and Protection to Children.

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