One of PWA’s signature initiatives, the Sexual Health and Relapse Prevention Program — known as SHARP — serves males ages 13 to 21 through a highly structured residential treatment model that combines therapy, education, life skills development, and behavioral support.
The mission of Pierceton Woods Academy is to support young men who are carrying more than most people can see at first glance. Some arrive with histories of trauma, family instability, substance abuse, depression, anxiety, or sexually maladaptive behaviors. Nearly all of them arrive needing structure, accountability, and a realistic path forward. The program is designed to help students rebuild the skills, habits, and confidence needed to move toward a healthier future.
One of PWA’s signature initiatives, the Sexual Health and Relapse Prevention Program — known as SHARP — serves males ages 13 to 21 through a highly structured residential treatment model that combines therapy, education, life skills development, and behavioral support. The program uses a five-stage treatment approach designed to help students develop accountability, emotional regulation, healthy relationship skills, and relapse prevention strategies while working toward long-term personal growth.
Progress can sometimes look uneven. One good week followed by a hard conversation. A breakthrough in therapy followed by frustration in the classroom. Real rehabilitation tends to move more like weather than a checklist. Some days clear and hopeful. Some days stubbornly overcast.
Pierceton Woods Academy is designed with that reality in mind. Students in the SHARP program attend an on-campus alternative school where they can work toward earning a Core 40 diploma or GED through self-paced coursework and experiential learning opportunities. Alongside academics, students participate in vocational and life-skills training that includes woodworking, horticulture, mechanics, food service, and financial management.
That combination matters more than people sometimes realize. Because healing is rarely just about stopping harmful behavior. It’s also about helping someone build a life they can realistically imagine themselves living. Therapy may help students process trauma and understand patterns of behavior, but practical skills help create stability, confidence, and independence in everyday life.
And according to Abe Hepler, Pierceton Woods Academy Vice President of Residential Services, that balance is intentional.
“Ultimately, our goal is to restore hope in the young men we serve,” he explains. “They need accountability and the opportunity to learn life and career skills, but more than anything, they need to see their own potential.”
The SHARP program also emphasizes family involvement when appropriate, recognizing that long-term success often depends on improving communication and support systems beyond residential treatment. Group therapy, individual counseling, and structured peer accountability all play a role in helping students understand healthy sexuality, emotional regulation, and decision-making.
Hepler says that focus on long-term growth shapes the entire experience, not just the clinical side of treatment.
“We all need a support system,” he notes. “These young men are no exception.”
People tend to prefer simple labels when talking about struggling teenagers. Troubled. Dangerous. Broken. Success story. Failure. But programs like SHARP operate in the much messier middle ground where healing, accountability, trauma, and personal responsibility all exist at the same time.
And for many young men, that’s where real change begins.
