A Word from Our Directors

Greg and Essie Del Valle are the directors of Lakeland Grace Academy. Greg was a deputy sheriff and directed a church youth group of 350 kids in his spare time. Through that experience, God put it on the hearts of both Greg and Essie to work full-time with troubled girls. 

Dear Parent:

Do you feel like you are walking on pins and needles in your home?  Has your girl changed so dramatically that you hardly know her anymore? You may have raised her with the same love, principles and values as your other children yet she has chosen to go down a different, dark and dangerous road.

You are not alone. We can help!

Students we work with are typically intelligent, gifted teens who have just gotten off track.  Or, they are girls who were adopted and have become filled with anger as a teenager. Many of these girls have taken advantage of kind parents, and have taken for granted all that has been sacrificed and provided them. We are talking about teens who are throwing away their futures. We are describing daughters that have had everything at their disposal, yet only worry about finding favor in the eyes of their negative friends or boyfriends, and have no concern for anything else.  

Our team has shared in the grief and joy of working through this journey with hundreds of teenagers and their families. At Lakeland, in a short time, you too will experience a dramatic difference in your daughter; you’ll notice in her a new respect for her future, a renewed love of family, and a return to her faith. 

At Lakeland Grace, we provide around-the-clock care, fun activities, great food, athletics, and first-class academics. Students are counseled with individual and group sessions and given faith-building exercises.  Our program is proven to turn around troubled girls.  The change is sometimes breathtaking and always so fulfilling for those of us who work with these kids. 

Having your girl at Lakeland will also give you a much needed break from all the drama — a break to gather your senses and to allow yourself to just breathe again. We’ll help you establish proper boundaries and break down the walls between you and your child so when she returns home you will be able to maintain the progress we will have made in her.  It will give your girl a needed break as well, from the influences in her life that have sparked or encouraged the attitudes and actions she is exhibiting. 

Your girl will transform from “for the moment” and “me” thinking to an attitude of concern and care for others, and care for her own future as well.  And should she have been involved on any level with substance abuse, our national success rate of 86% in regard to substance abuse treatment is what makes us one of the most successful programs of its kind in the nation. 

We would love to hear your story and help you with your girl. Please give us a call. 

Gregory and Esmeralda “Essie” Del Valle
Executive Directors