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Bethlehem, CT | Established 1977 | Nonprofit | |
Happy New Year!
As we step into the year ahead, we’re excited to share updates from Wellspring and Arch Bridge School and to continue our work supporting growth, healing, and learning. Thank you for being part of our community.
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What Sets Us Apart
Wellspring is a nonprofit therapeutic residential treatment and academic program founded in 1977 and located in Bethlehem, Connecticut. Through an integrated model, Wellspring provides comprehensive clinical care alongside individualized, state-approved special education programming.
Arch Bridge School is Wellspring’s fully licensed, state-approved, NEASC-accredited private therapeutic school serving students in grades 7–12. The school offers college-preparatory coursework and serves students of all genders, including day students from local communities as well as residents from Wellspring’s treatment programs.
Wellspring’s residential program serves adolescent girls and young adult women, providing a relational, evidence-based clinical approach within a structured therapeutic environment. Young adult women who have not yet earned a high school diploma may continue and complete their education through Arch Bridge School within this integrated setting.
Academic programming is delivered by special education and content-certified teachers who collaborate closely with licensed clinicians to support students and residents holistically—academically, emotionally, and clinically—supporting sustainable transitions back to school, home, and community life.
Wellspring and the Arch Bridge School are accredited by The Joint Commission and NEASC, licensed by the State of Connecticut, and approved by New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts. Wellspring is a member of the American Residential Treatment Association, the Connecticut Association of Private Special Education Facilities, and the National Association for Therapeutic Schools and Programs.
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Continuing Our Commitment to
Clinical Excellence & Training
Wellspring continues to value clinical excellence, education, and community partnership through our role as an official training site for the Yale Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship, an ACGME-accredited program.
This ongoing collaboration reflects our longstanding commitment to advancing high-quality, evidence-based mental health care in Connecticut.
As a training site, Wellspring provides Yale fellows with immersive, hands-on experience in an integrative residential setting serving young individuals with mental health and substance use disorders.
This partnership strengthens patient care, supports ongoing professional development for our staff, and reinforces a culture of continuous learning.
Under the supervision of Dr. Jessica Zoltani, fellows engage in patient-centered training grounded in best practices—helping advance mental health treatment across both academic and community settings.
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🌟 Immediate Placements Available
We currently have openings at both Wellspring and Arch Bridge School. If you're working with a family seeking therapeutic residential placement, we'd love to connect.
Contact Us Today
Program Updates
On-Site Medical Care Partnership: Through our collaboration with Nutmeg Primary Care, a provider visits campus every other week to provide consistent, on-site medical care. This partnership enhances continuity of care and close collaboration with our clinical team.
Adolescent Intensive Program (AIP): Wellspring’s Adolescent Intensive Program provides short-term, intensive treatment for girls ages 14–18 experiencing complex psychiatric and family challenges. Designed to complement our long-term residential program, AIP focuses on stabilization, skill development, and a supported transition back home, with a typical length of stay of 3–5 months.
Expanded Family Access Through Telehealth: Wellspring has made a major shift away from mandatory in-person family work, now offering family therapy via telehealth when appropriate. This change removes unnecessary barriers, supports families with logistical limitations, and reinforces a core therapeutic principle—meeting clients and families where they are—while reflecting our continued modernization.
Success Story
"It was the best experience ever. The care that staff gave me, you can tell that they really cared which helped me improve my self-confidence and helped prepare me for transition. The exposure to outings and social situations helped prepare me for life after treatment."
— Recent Angelus Resident
Resources & Insights
Understanding NEASC Accreditation in Independent Private Schools
NEASC stands for the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, an independent accrediting organization that evaluates schools through a rigorous peer-review process to ensure alignment with established academic, ethical, and operational standards.
In a therapeutic school setting, NEASC accreditation affirms that academic programming meets recognized educational standards, even while students are receiving clinical and emotional support. This helps ensure that coursework is structured, documented, and comparable to that of traditional schools.
For students and families, NEASC accreditation is important because it supports:
- Transcript credibility and diploma recognition
- Post-secondary planning, including college applications and school transitions
- Smoother re-entry to mainstream or less restrictive educational settings, as credits are more likely to be understood and reviewed consistently
NEASC accreditation offers reassurance that academic rigor and emotional healing can coexist—supporting continuity in education while students focus on their overall well-being.
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The second half of 2025 has been one of substantial positive change here at Wellspring and the Arch Bridge School. Many new team members (myself included) have joined, while others have departed. The AIP track concept materialized, opened, and accepted its first clients. Contemporary approaches to business development, marketing, and outreach were initiated, and website content modernization continues. Both campuses received a deep analysis of much-needed physical plant and grounds enhancements, with over 40% of identified items resolved by our outstanding internal team.
A cell service booster was installed, preparing us to support future clinical enhancements in exciting ways. Evidence-based clinical practices continue to grow through focused investment in staff of all backgrounds, and our Land, Animal, Experiential, and Horticulture programs are evolving into fully therapeutic services. A major pivot has occurred in how we are known in the marketplace: what was once a mandatory in-person family work requirement has changed to better support families for whom this was too restrictive or impossible. Family work can now be conducted via telehealth, as needed or clinically indicated. These changes, among many others, remove unnecessary barriers on our continued journey toward excellence and demonstrate our thoughtful approach to leadership, action, and transformative outcomes in this sector.
We continue to build and navigate multiple paths that support our mission of being among the best residential treatment programs and therapeutic schools in the country. We must—and do—have the courage to “be the change” we expect in, of, and for our clients. We are supported by amazing staff, providers, fellows, volunteers, board members, and donors. These are the unique and essential ingredients that help our clients and families reach their fullest potential and achieve what they aspire to.
—Pete Mumma, CEO
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| Aby Torlan is a clinician at Wellspring who recently earned a Master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. Aby completed her internship at Wellspring throughout much of 2025 and brings prior experience from a residential addiction treatment setting, where she supported adults and facilitated outdoor wellness programming such as hiking and camping.
Aby integrates her passion for the outdoors into her clinical work and is especially interested in helping clients reconnect with joy, curiosity, and a sense of grounding through nature-based and experiential approaches.
Wellspring’s mission of providing compassionate, relational care to residents, students, and families strongly aligns with her values, and she is grateful to be part of such a supportive and dedicated clinical community.
Outside of work, Aby enjoys creative pursuits including writing, art, and photography, as well as listening to music, attending concerts, hiking, camping, paddle boarding, evening walks, and spending time with her children.
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