Dancing Moon Ranch is a private residential facility for adolescent girls ages 11 to 18, based in northcentral Montana. At full capacity, we serve six students and their families.

At Dancing Moon Ranch, we believe the best place for children is with their families. When that is simply not possible, we believe we provide the next best alternative.

Our exceptional approach integrates therapy into daily activities. This approach allows girls the freedom to experience adversity within the safety of normal routine and expert guidance.

We live and work together as a family, believing that adolescents can best develop self-knowledge, discipline and respect for themselves and others within the structure of family and community.

Although we specialize in working with troubled girls, our program is available to any family looking for a more appropriate educational experience and lifestyle. We recognize that every girl has a varied combination of history, symptoms and needs. Our program addresses depression, substance abuse, anxiety, attachment disorders, self-abusive behaviors and other therapeutic profiles.

While acknowledging diverse family circumstances, we most often focus our therapeutic efforts on reintegration with the family. To that end, Dancing Moon Ranch offers and advocates weekly parent sessions by phone, targeted at meshing the family's struggles and growth with that of their child.

The Montanan magazine published an article about Dancing Moon Ranch: "Harvest Moon: A Chinook Ranch Helps Troubled Teens." This story was reprinted in the Montana chapter newsletter of the National Association of Social Workers.

Dancing Moon has been a working family ranch for nearly 30 years. The 1,000-acre ranch is located on Montana's Hi-Line between two rural communities. We are 140 miles from Great Falls and 240 miles from Billings.

We raise a variety of livestock -- including sheep, cattle and pigs -- and grow all the crops necessary to feed them. The girls are involved in every aspect of ranching and farming.

With our family, the girls live in and are restoring a turn-of-the-century Victorian home. Both the house and ranch recall an earlier, less complicated time. We live simply, work hard and play hard.

Ranch life naturally lends itself to accountability, providing endless opportunities for introspection, challenge and joy. As the girls experience the cycles of birth, growth and life on the farm, they become more aware and respectful of themselves and others.

Dancing Moon Ranch incorporates proactive clinical strategies within a nurturing, yet challenging environment. Along with these practical strategies, the girls receive daily encouragement and guidance to help them understand their strengths and those areas that need work.

Because we recognize every family that comes to us has distinct needs, family involvement is integral to our approach. Our team works toward identifying the needs of each girl and her family, and developing a personalized treatment plan as a framework for the future.

An individualized educational assessment is completed for each girl upon her arrival at Dancing Moon Ranch. This assessment helps us, and families, select an appropriate educational placement for her.

A certified teacher and a tutor are available for girls who are home-schooled at the ranch, while students able to integrate into the community may attend the local public school. When appropriate, girls also may participate in extracurricular activities.

The girls live with Dancing Moon Ranch owner L. Gay Miller and her young son, Cassidy. Gay is a licensed clinical social worker with two decades of experience as a child and family therapist.

The ranch is supported by a tightly knit team of professional staff and family members, including:

• Hillary Maxwell, parent liaison for Dancing Moon Ranch, is a licensed clinical social worker. She provides student updates and addresses family issues with weekly phone conferences. She also coordinates family sessions during parent visits.
• Colleen Overcast, educational coordinator, is a certified teacher with 23 years of teaching experience. She oversees assessment, development and planning of each child's academic life.

We recognize that it may be a difficult and distressing decision to place your child outside the family home. Parents and siblings may call as often as they wish, and we encourage families to spend time with us on the ranch.