What is Hillside?

By Stephen Cohen

Part 1 of a 2-Part Series

For 32 years I have driven by Hillside, seemingly a small cluster of cottages around a green at the bottom of Courtney Drive, and had no clue what it was.  Never saw anyone there. Always wondered.

But last week I got to meet the Director of Business Development, Mark Pulliam, who took me on a tour. I was astonished at what I saw.

It is far more than the few cottages you see at a glance from the street. There are residential cottages, a 2-story fully-accredited school with classes for elementary, middle, and high school students, a large swimming pool, a vegetable garden, a full-sized gym, an outdoor tennis/basketball court, a large dining room with an adjoining cafeteria, a clinic, an animal center….13 acres, in fact, rising up to a hilltop with a stunning view of downtown Atlanta.

An interesting history
It was founded over 125 years ago as a shelter for homeless women and needy children, originally named The Home for the Friendless—a wonderfully Victorian name.  At that time they were downtown, and to raise money, the ladies would take some of the orphans and sit them inside the old Rich’s building in the display window. Then the ladies stood outside with baskets for donation.

As the home grew, more space was needed. In 1926, in order to be in a larger, peaceful wooded area, they bought the rolling woodland at 690 Courtenay Drive.

Today Hillside operates as a private, nonprofit organization offering services for children and adolescents who have emotional and behavioral issues. It has 81 beds, housing children ages 7 -21, twelve children to a cottage. Children typically live on campus for 3-6 months while they and their families go through DBT training, which incorporates the seemingly opposite strategies of acceptance and change. For example, DBT therapists accept clients as they are while also acknowledging that they need to change in order to reach their goals.

Hillside struck me as having some imaginative approaches to this, incorporating animals and recreation. The tennis court is shown at right.

Here’s an example of how animals are used. The animal center includes a ferret. I saw the ferret.  One of its charming characteristics is that it appears to be dead when it is asleep—its breathing almost stops–and someone at Hillside almost buried it once. I thought it was a stuffed animal. Ferrets are also very stubborn. So how is it used? The staff may put the ferret on a lead; the child wants to go right, but the ferret is determined to go left. How to reconcile that conflict? The DBT training teaches the child to understand and reconcile opposing behaviors.

Another sweet example of how animals are used: Some children find themselves going from one foster home to another. So Hillside keeps hermit crabs. A hermit crab leaves its “home” (its shell) in search of another home until eventually it finds one that is just right for it.

Once the child has completed the 3-6 month residential program, he or she may become a day student during a transitional period.

In the past, all the children served were in state custody, but due to cuts in Medicaid funding, that is no longer the case.  Now families whose children are struggling with behavioral issues may contact Hillside directly. The State of Georgia Department of Family and Children’s Services (DFCS) still refers some children to Hillside for services on campus and through their foster home placements.

As a privately-run non-profit organization, Hillside is expanding its community presence to tell their story, so that families know they are there as a resource. Since not all parents have the resources to pay all the costs, even when insurance provides coverage, community support from citizens is a real need—particularly to volunteer and/or donate funds.

These are topics I’ll expand on in the second part of this article, which will appear in the August 15 edition of the Voice.

In the meantime, for more information about Hillside, click here.

A note on how this article came about: After Hillside’s new Executive Director, Emily Acker, introduced herself at last month’s meeting of NPU-F, which for a decade has met there, our VHCA representatives to the NPU suggested that the Voice carry an article about them.