Walking in to True North is a bit like walking through a friend’s front door for a cup of coffee. Our office is home-like and staffed with people who know what you are going through. It is not uncommon for students or their families to be anxious when they arrive at True North. After all, nobody really knows what to expect because it’s a new experience for everyone… but not for the staff at True North. We have enrolled new students over and over again! We will be expecting your arrival, and we will be prepared to facilitate a smooth transition and enrollment process.
When you arrive, we will offer comforts like water, coffee and the bathroom. Once everyone’s basic needs are met, the student and family will settle down to meet with a therapist whom we call a course leader. Most often this will be the course leader that the student will work with during their stay, but sometimes it will need to be a different True North course leader. This conversation will focus on what everyone should expect about the rest of day. We aim to make a student’s arrival as low stress as possible, which is why we keep this meeting brief and focused mainly on the details of the enrollment day.
Delaney Patterson, Administrative Assistant
Following the meeting with the course leader, families will have the opportunity to meet with administrative staff to pass along medications and instructions, to complete any loose ends with the enrollment paperwork, and arrange times for the family’s first calls with the course leader and the family therapist. Once those formalities have been taken care of, the time will come for students and families to say their goodbyes. A student’s anxiety usually begins to subside when the goodbyes have been said and families have departed, so keeping the student in mind, families should plan to keep this transition relatively brief. A hug and a few kind words are all that is needed.
Doreen Kelly, Office Manager
Keep in mind that there will not be any tests on the information we present during the enrollment! We know that the amount of information and the variety of new faces can be hard to absorb, even under the best circumstances. We give families a folder that duplicates most of the information we convey during the enrollment, and if families lose the folder AND forget everything they were told, we follow up the enrollment with a welcome email that includes all the important details. Families can always visit our team page to view staff photos and get reacquainted with the faces they met during the enrollment. For more details about the enrollment process, we recommend you speak with someone from our Admissions Team. We look forward to welcoming you and working with your family!
