About Us:

The John L. Gildner Regional Institute for Children and Adolescents (JLG-RICA) is a community-based, public residential, clinical, and educational facility serving children and adolescents with severe emotional disabilities. The program is designed to provide residential and day treatment for students ranging in age from 10 to 18.

JLG-RICA's goal is to successfully return its students to an appropriate family, community, academic or vocational setting that will lead to happy and successful lives. The facility, which opened its doors in 1980, is located on a 14.6 acre tract of land in Montgomery County. The JLG-RICA program has the capacity for 100 day students and 32 residential students. Day students are admitted from Montgomery County for the elementary, middle, and senior high programs. Residential students are admitted primarily from Montgomery, Carroll, Frederick, Howard, Prince George's, Washington and other counties in Maryland on a case by case review into the middle school and senior high programs. JLG-RICA is an interagency program operated by the State of Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and Montgomery County Public Schools.

Who Is Appropriate For The RICA Program?

JLG-RICA serves severely emotionally disturbed children and adolescents. Admission to either the residential or day program is through the joint efforts of RICA's professional staff and the Admission, Review and Dismissal Committee of each county school system. The following behaviors or problems are those most frequently found in youth appropriate for the RICA program:

• Depression
• Withdrawn behaviors
• Difficulty getting along with peers
• Conflicts with authority figures
• Low self-esteem
• Aggressive behaviors
• Difficulties with learning, primarily due to emotional problems
• Low frustration tolerance
• Runaway behaviors which can be controlled in an unlocked facility
• Substance abuse as part of the problem, not the primary problem
• Unreasonable anxieties or physical symptoms associated with personal or school problems
• Pervasive Developmental Disordered behaviors
• Average or above intellectual functioning unless documentation shows that the level is lower because of emotional problems
• Extreme anxiety or somatic symptoms which interfere with daily functioning