Sandhills Center Mental Health Developmental Disabilities & Substance Abuse

Information may not be reliable

Welcome to Sandhill Child Development Center! SCDC is a residential program for children between the ages of five and fourteen experiencing significant difficulties functioning in their current home environments, schools or communities. Residents at the Sandhill Child Development Center may be unable to regulate their emotional states due to early attachment disruptions or barriers, and subsequently face serious emotional and behavioral challenges.
Children who may benefit from Sandhills rigorous treatment program may demonstrate one or more of the following problems:

Failure to recognize or care about how personal actions affect others.
Lying, manipulating or controlling behaviors that are intended to keep others at a distance or cause family members to feel like they are being "held hostage."
Failure to make adequate progress in outpatient or traditional residential treatment programs.

Sandhill Centers residential program combines a rigorous treatment plan with a comfortable home environment. The residential treatment plan includes a dynamic counseling program to provide counseling services when and where they are needed, 24-hours a day, and an impressive academic curriculum. The Sandhill Center residential program also offers additional innovative components including an animal care program and a service learning program to teach children responsibility and to demonstrate how their actions influence others.
Using our empirically validated attachment treatment model, our highly qualified staff of counselors, teachers and childcare workers dedicate themselves to creating a unique environment that encourages healing and improvement. Our counselors, educators and childcare providers closely engage each individual child to help repair his or her ability to create and enjoy harmonious relationships.
Children are guaranteed tremendous individual attention at Sandhill, which ensures that they learn the skills necessary to create healthy and happy relationships. Because of our remarkable child-to-adult ratio, treatment at the Sandhill is highly individualized to meet each childs needs. Each residents length of stay at the center is also based on his or her own unique needs. Typically, the effective resolution of attachment-related issues takes considerable time, and a stay of twelve to eighteen months is common.
Sandhill Center is located about 30 minutes south of the Albuquerque airport in the rural Valencia Valley. The center includes two charming and spacious southwestern adobe residential facilities that provide more than 9,000 square feet of living space on 13 acres designed to accommodate as many as 32 boys and girls. Our original facility, called Hacienda Valencia, is a passive solar home on 6 acres of land, which features natural brick floors, wood-beamed ceilings, stables and pasture land for horses and dairy goats, and modern amenities. The other facility, Hacienda del Rio, is a luxurious rambling classic adobe residence that features saltillo tile floors and hand-painted wood-work throughout, a swimming pool, a tennis court, stables, and a riding arena. Both facilities are fully licensed and certified by the New Mexico Licensing and Certification Authority.
We understand families face significant difficulties when caring for children with attachment issues and disorders. We empathize with the pain and uncertainty parents and caretakers experience when considering sending their child to a treatment program. We are here to help. Please contact Linda Zimmerman, Admissions Director, for a free consultation.