Northern Virginia families got a new place to send teenagers who need substance use or behavioral health treatment this spring. Acadia Healthcare cut the ribbon on the Northern Virginia Adolescent Treatment Center in Chantilly on March 19, 2026.
It’s a secure residential facility with 16 beds. Shortly before opening, it earned accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities, or CARF.
Four Partners, One Building
Acadia had help. The Northern Virginia Community Services Boards, the Virginia Opioid Abatement Authority and the Northern Virginia Regional Projects Office all joined the project, which the partners called a public-private partnership.
“We’re excited to be a collaborative partner in this opportunity to offer much needed services to youth and families in a space that’s closer to home for Northern Virginians,” said Barbara E. Wadley-Young, PhD, MSW, acting executive director of the Fairfax-Falls Church Community Services Board.
Distance was her main point. “Proximity of quality services affords greater family involvement, continuity of care, and smoother reintegration into school and community life, and these components are essential to successful outcomes for many program participants,” she said.
Inside the Program
“We are expanding access to behavioral health services for adolescents by delivering evidence-based, trauma-informed residential treatment in a secure environment designed to promote stability and recovery,” said Executive Director Kerrie Laughlin.
Laughlin also invoked the company’s purpose statement. “Guided by our purpose to Lead Care with Light, we are committed to inspiring hope and improving lives by illuminating paths to healing for the adolescents and families we serve,” she said. Families can find program details at nvatc.com.
Bigger projects opened elsewhere a few months later. Acadia’s second quarter brought two joint venture hospitals in Florida and Iowa, with 240 licensed beds between them. The company has about 25,000 employees and serves more than 84,000 patients a day.
One More Site in a Growing Count
Chantilly joined a company that Reeve Waud founded as a private corporation in 2005. Acadia closed 2025 with 277 facilities and more than 12,500 beds. Six months later, the count was 279 facilities and about 12,600 beds.
Young patients have been part of that growth for a while. Acadia, which Reeve Waud still chairs, opened a children’s hospital in Chicago in 2022. Its new 96-bed hospital in Council Bluffs, Iowa, reserves 24 beds for children and adolescents.
Reeve Waud also leads Waud Capital Partners, the Chicago private equity firm he started in 1993.
