Today we’d like to introduce you to Diana Kon and Pete Myers.
Diana and Pete, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
The O-School was founded in 1915 as a day school laboratory at Rush Medical School. Soon after, it became one of the Laboratory Schools at the University of Chicago, a relationship it maintained for nearly 100 years. It was one of the first programs in the U.S. to treat, rather than institutionalize, children with severe social and emotional challenges.
From 1944 until 1973, the school was overseen by Dr. Bruno Bettelheim, who implemented the idea of “milieu therapy,” a treatment concept that has evolved throughout the 20th century.
Milieu therapy is a comprehensive approach that seeks to treat the whole person by understanding and working with the dynamics at play with each individual, including internal and external forces. The life-changing impact of the external setting was proven to Dr. Bettelheim as a young man while he was imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp. There, he saw first-hand how people could become de-humanized by their environment. Why, he asked, couldn’t the opposite also be true?
Bettelheim’s study of his fellow prisoners — together with his later study of psychoanalysis, Dr. Freud’s “ego” based theories, and his work in the 1940s with Anna Freud at the O-School — led to his innovations in milieu therapy as a methodology for caring for children who did not fit elsewhere. This comprehensive milieu treatment model—in an evolved form—is still in operation today.
In 2014, the school went fully independent of the University and opened a new custom building two blocks from the University of Chicago campus. Today, the School is regarded as a premier mental health facility — a safe haven and a path to success in school and life for children and adolescents that have not progressed toward their potential despite other therapeutic approaches.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Over a hundred years, there are always a lot of challenges. Most recently, our biggest challenge was going fully independent of the University of Chicago, of which we were an affiliate for nearly 100 years. This change provided us with more control over our facilities and programs, but it also required us to take over a number of functions–such as HR, facilities, fundraising, etc–that were originally overseen by the University. As you can imagine, it has been a challenge to raise these capacities to the level of our programs, which have over a 100 years of proven success.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
The Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School (the O-School) is a therapeutic day and residential program located in Chicago, Illinois that serves children and young adults with profound social-emotional issues or who are on the autism scale.
Most O-School students have experienced severe and persistent mental health challenges. Many are emotionally vulnerable and can easily become overwhelmed, leading to them acting out in disruptive and dangerous ways.
Yet O-School students also display one or more areas of significant interest and strength upon which self-esteem and identity can be formed. They also show a desire to invest in their own treatment and education.
We provide an immersive approach to care based on milieu treatment. For us, therapy does not take place simply in a formal session. It occurs in every interaction and decision throughout the day. We are also a relationship based model. O-School staff take the time to build healthy and lasting relationships with each child, giving each student at least one professional to turn to for any concern.
In order to meet the full academic and therapeutic needs of the students, the O-School provides the following services within its therapeutic day and residential programs:
Individual, Group and Family Therapy
Medication Administration
Medication Management
Nutritional Support
Occupational Therapy
Psychological Assessments
Recreational Support
Speech Therapy
Transitional Support
A number of things set our program apart:
Strong Academics in a Therapeutic Setting: The O-School’s curriculum meets or exceeds public standards, and high expectations are paired with support to prepare students for graduation and college. This is different from most therapeutic schools which rely on work book or computer based models. At the heart of our school is a fully functioning school.
A Highly Skilled and Committed Staff: The O-School surrounds each student with a highly educated, trained and committed team of therapeutic and educational experts. As the Council of Accreditation reported on our final 2015 report: “The maturity and knowledge demonstrated by the staff in dealing with the children is tremendous. This organization makes a compelling argument for the value of having higher educational standards for the staff.”
Providing a Traditional School Experience: The O-School works hard to provide non-traditional students with a more traditional school experience within a therapeutic setting. This is rare. In addition to providing a fully functioning school, we also offer many co and extra-curricular opportunities, including:
Dances
Annual talent show
Student council
School newspaper and literary magazine
An Individualized Experience: At the O-School, the uniqueness of each child is celebrated, and therapeutic and educational paths are tailored to meet students where they are in their journeys.
Urban Setting: Most therapeutic school are rural with animal therapies and other rural activities. The O-School in Chicago, and our urban setting allows us to uniquely integrate city life into its programs. Our students learn how to take public transportation; they attend museums, plays, sporting events, etc; they can take receive care from other world class experts at Lurie; etc.
What were you like growing up?
Diana joined the O-School in 1995 as a teacher and served as principal before being named to her current post. Before the O-School, she opened the Therapeutic Day School at Children’s Memorial. Diana also collaborated on a variety of learning disability diagnostic clinics, A.D.D. centers, and programs designed to meet the needs of gifted learners. Early in her career, she gained invaluable experience working as the teacher for the Children’s Unit at Chicago Lakeshore Hospital where she first learned about the concept of milieu. She has since devoted much of her career to ensuring that these core values remain at the center of the work at the O-School. Diana has facilitated meetings and presentations with numerous schools and school districts across the country.
Diana is a strong advocate on behalf of students and young adults with exceptional need. Diana is active on a variety of local, state and national legislative forums and often is called upon to join research and recommendation commissions that serve to advice on special education across the state.
Diana holds a doctorate in education, a post-graduate degree in educational leadership, a graduate degree in curriculum and instruction, and an undergraduate degree in elementary education from National Louis University. She maintains Professional Educator Licenses in general administration, special education, secondary education and elementary education.
Personal Tidbits about Diana:
• Became a vegetarian at age six when I learned what meat actually was.
• Played violin, wore aqua bifocals with rhinestones, and most of my clothes were hand-me-downs from my sisters. On the whole, this facilitated my high social status
• I read Animal Farm in third grade and cried too hard when they took Boxer away that I could never finish the book
Pete has spent most of his professional career at the O-School and has broad experience in a variety of diverse therapeutic environments. He began with counselor positions at the O-School, which led to him being named Assistant Director for Residential Services. He was appointed to his current post in 2008.
During his clinical training, Pete worked at a large intermediate care facility for chronically mentally ill adults, at Cook County Jail as a therapist, and at a large state operated facility in New York City that cared for 2,000 mentally ill adults. Additionally, he worked in a private psychological testing services office as a psychometrician; a local hospital emergency room as the crisis intervention specialist; and an outpatient clinic as a therapist and early childhood intervention specialist. Pete currently teaches at the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago as a lecturer. He also serves as an Advisory Board Member for the Association of Children’s Residential Centers and is a Peer Reviewer for the Council on Accreditation.
Pete’s education and training is in clinical psychology. He holds a bachelor’s and earned his master’s at the University of Chicago, while working at the O-School. He earned his doctorate from the Illinois School of Professional Psychology.
Personal Tidbits about Pete:
I would share that as a young person I was extremely active and worked to overcome attention deficit hyperactivity disorder by being a swimmer and by being very active in scouting.
I began at the school 29 years ago right out of college in the counselor role. I earned my doctorate in clinical psychology while working at the school. For three years I worked away from the school developing my family therapy skills but have always considered the school my professional home.
Contact Info:
- Address: 6245 S. Ingleside Ave.
Chicago, IL 60637 - Website: www.oschool.org
- Phone: 773-420-2900
- Email: info@oschool.org
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/oschoolarts
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/orthogenicschool
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