L. Jay Mitchell – Head of School/Founder
L Jay has been actively involved in the profession of adolescent mental health for over 25 years. As a USAF Judge Advocate and as a partner in a civil law practice he focused on cases involving psychological assessment, capacity and emotional injury. His experience with forensic behavioral scientists led to an exploration of the behavioral, cognitive and emotional change process. This led to founding and directing the SUWS Adolescent Program in 1982, a one month outdoor intervention removing intransigent emotional impasses. SUWS is the longest continuous operating program of its kind in the United States.
To date there have been over 10,000 graduates of these programs. He has worked for years with Dr. Brent Slife in the development and application of a therapeutic model called "relationality" or more specifically "hard relationality". This model is being incorporated at Greenbrier Academy. He has written, published, and presented papers in the field while also training practitioners.
