Two men founded the Elan School for Troubled Teenagers in 1970.  Each brought to Elan a set of unique skills and a healthy awareness of the inadequacies of his respective profession.

Dr. Gerald Davidson was a psychiatrist in private practice. He saw the disappointing results and financial impracticality of conventional treatment of Troubled Teenagers maladaptive behavior, and recognized the limitations of psychotherapy in the treatment of inadequately socialized adolescents. Dr. Davidson retired from Elan in 1990.  

Joseph Ricci, Elan's Executive Director until his death in 2001, was himself a graduate of a self-help community that was a crude precursor of Elan. He saw the need for strong adult direction and professional standards to help Troubled Teenagers.  Before founding Elan, he had established and directed one of the first therapeutic-educational communities in Connecticut.  Mr. Ricci's extensive background included counseling of rape victims, Vietnam veterans and individuals with suicidal ideation and his techniques had earned national recognition.

Mr. Ricci and Dr. Davidson agreed upon the need for a facility to teach mainstream American values to Troubled Teenagers, together with  providing support and specialized care for struggling adolescents. Thus a positive value system would combine with educational and emotional growth to help Troubled Teenagers learn life skills. 

Over the years, Elan has become less of a "last resort" school for Troubled Teenagers. Our many years of experience using a therapeutic community to build life skills is supplemented by group, family and individual work.  Elan School has a special education director on staff and we offer maximum support and development of IEPs in collaboration with our sending school districts. Elan offers frequent parent contact with their Troubled Teenagers.  Today, Elan is a co-educational year round, residential school for struggling adolescents who come from all parts of the United States as well as from foreign countries. The facility is located in the rural community of Poland Spring, Maine; 25 miles north of Portland, Maine, and 140 miles north of Boston, Massachusetts. Elan is licensed by the Maine Department of Education as a special-purpose private school for grades 8 - 12 and is entitled to grant diplomas to those students who meet high school graduation requirements.

Sharon Terry is Elan's current Executive Director, having assumed this position in January of 2001. Ms. Terry, who has been with Elan since the mid 1970's, most recently served as its Assistant Executive Director, working closely with Mr. Ricci until his passing. Since undertaking her role, Ms. Terry continues the work begun by Mr. Ricci and Dr. Davidson. She assures that the spirit, philosophy and goals of the school are upheld.

Students are admitted at any time year-round and stay an average of twenty-four to thirty months. The 32-acre campus is in a rural community, 20 minutes from the city of Lewiston and 40 minutes from Portland, Maine's largest city.