The physical environment where treatment occurs plays a surprisingly significant role in the recovery process. Since 2006, the tranquil campus in Lemont, Illinois has provided a restorative backdrop for thousands of women and girls seeking healing from eating disorders, addiction, trauma, and other mental health challenges.
Timberline Knolls distinguishes itself not only through clinical excellence but also through its thoughtfully designed physical space. Set on a picturesque 43-acre wooded property just outside Chicago, the center creates a retreat-like atmosphere where residents can disconnect from daily stressors and focus completely on their healing journey.
“Timberline Knolls is a special place with our acreage and our dedicated treatment team,” notes Diane Carugati, CEO. This intentional environment reflects the center’s holistic approach to recovery, which recognizes that healing encompasses not just clinical interventions but also the spaces where those interventions occur.
A Campus Designed for Healing
The design of Timberline Knolls reflects a sophisticated understanding of how physical environments affect mental wellbeing. Rather than the institutional feel that characterizes many treatment centers, the campus features natural surroundings, comfortable lodges, and spaces specifically designed to support the recovery process.
“We have crafted the Timberline Knolls experience to provide you with the highest level of comfort in a retreat-like setting,” explains material from the residential facility. “We are a place that initiates transformation; a place where you can find true and lasting healing.”
The lodge-based residential model creates smaller therapeutic communities within the larger center. Women and girls live in one of six lodges organized by age and treatment focus, creating opportunities for connection with peers facing similar challenges while maintaining a sense of privacy and comfort.
This homelike atmosphere helps ease the transition into treatment, reducing the institutional feeling that can sometimes create resistance to the therapeutic process. For many residents, the peaceful setting provides their first opportunity in years to slow down, reflect, and begin addressing deep-seated issues without the distractions and triggers of everyday environments.
Nature as a Therapeutic Resource
The natural setting of the treatment center forms an integral part of its therapeutic approach. Research increasingly confirms what many have intuitively understood: natural environments can significantly impact mental health, reducing stress, improving mood, and enhancing overall wellbeing.
Residents at Timberline Knolls benefit from this natural integration daily. The wooded campus provides opportunities for mindful walks, outdoor group sessions when weather permits, and moments of quiet reflection amid natural surroundings—experiences that complement and enhance traditional therapeutic interventions.
This “secure, tranquil setting in a convenient, central location” is highlighted as one of the key benefits on the center’s website. The location balances accessibility (being near Chicago) with the privacy and serenity needed for deep therapeutic work.
Specialized Spaces for Therapeutic Activities
Beyond its natural surroundings, Timberline Knolls features specially designed spaces that support various aspects of the treatment process. A standout example is the center’s art studio, which provides a dedicated environment for expressive therapy—a core component of the treatment approach.
“We have a magnificent art studio,” Carugati notes when discussing the center’s experiential programming. This purpose-built creative space allows residents to engage in art therapy under the guidance of specialized therapists, often accessing emotions and experiences that may be difficult to express verbally.
The physical layout of the residential program also includes spaces for movement therapy, yoga, and other body-centered approaches that address the physical dimensions of recovery. These dedicated areas ensure that residents can engage fully in experiential therapies without the limitations often faced in less specialized facilities.
For adolescent residents, the center maintains TK Academy, an educational facility staffed by certified teachers. This dedicated learning environment allows young residents to continue their education during treatment, preventing additional stress about falling behind academically.
Lodge Living: Creating Community
The residential lodges at Timberline Knolls serve as more than just housing—they function as therapeutic communities where residents learn to build healthy relationships and practice recovery skills in daily interactions. Each lodge houses residents of similar ages and with related treatment needs, creating natural peer support groups.
“This promotes a sense of community and allows you to share support with others whose experiences and goals are similar to yours,” explains material about the facility’s approach. This community aspect proves particularly valuable for women and girls who have often become isolated in their struggles.
The lodge format also allows for age-appropriate programming that addresses the specific developmental needs of different groups. Adolescent girls receive care tailored to their unique challenges, while adult women benefit from programming that recognizes the complexities of their life stages and responsibilities.
A Setting for Holistic Healing
The entire physical environment at Timberline Knolls reflects the center’s commitment to addressing recovery through a mind-body-spirit approach. Comfortable gathering spaces support group therapy and community meetings, while quiet areas allow for reflection, journaling, and spiritual practices.
Since being acquired by Acadia Healthcare in 2012, Timberline Knolls has continued enhancing its campus while maintaining the peaceful atmosphere that has become central to its treatment approach. This investment in physical spaces demonstrates recognition that environment matters significantly in the healing process.
For women stepping down from residential care to the partial hospitalization program (PHP), the center provides supportive housing options—named Magnolia, Cedar, and Aspen—near their Orland Park outpatient facility. These transitional living spaces maintain some elements of the supportive community while allowing for greater independence.
“PHP housing options offer independent living close to Orland Park, Illinois, where our PHP is located,” explains a facility description. This continuity in supportive housing helps ease the transition back to everyday environments while maintaining connections to the treatment community.
As Timberline Knolls continues its mission of providing specialized care for women and girls facing mental health challenges, its thoughtfully designed campus remains a cornerstone of its therapeutic approach. By creating physical spaces that support the complex work of recovery, the center enhances the effectiveness of its clinical interventions, offering residents not just treatment but a true sanctuary for healing.
For the thousands of women and girls who have walked its wooded grounds since 2006, Timberline Knolls has provided not just expert clinical care but an environment where transformation becomes possible—a place to pause, reflect, and begin building a foundation for lasting recovery.
