AURORA — When Christina Barrios arrived at Excelsior Youth Center three years ago, she carried 189 pounds on her 5-foot-5-inch frame.

She also carried the weight of a short life filled with drug and alcohol addiction, sexual abuse and gang affiliation.

Barrios wears her dark brown hair cropped boy-short. It's a defense mechanism, she says, because her physical abuse often started with the attacker grabbing her by the hair. Now nearly 18 and looking forward to graduating from both high school and one of the country's largest residential treatment centers for troubled girls, Barrios has shed 60 pounds since she started swimming and working out last summer.

"When I first came here, I caused a lot of trouble," Barrios

Heather Caldwell, a science teacher at Excelsior, oversees push-ups during an after-class therapy session. Physical fitness is one part of the youth center's treatment program. (Cyrus McCrimmon | The Denver Post )

admits. "When you are fat, no one looks at you as a person. They just see that you are fat and ugly. You are the last person chosen for the team, if you even get chosen. I wallowed in self-pity for two years."

When she got control of her weight and health, she says, "It changed everything about me. I used to fall down and just lie there." After she started her exercise program, "I'd fall, and get up faster and keep going. I am looking at life in a whole new way."

Water-aerobics classes, circuit training, volleyball and basketball teams are among the dozens of exercise options that Excelsior's 180 residents, ages 11 to 18, have to choose from as part of their treatment, which includes mandatory therapy sessions, year- round school and being under the constant, watchful gaze of a staff that outnumbers residents nearly 2-to-1.

Working out depression

Nutrition and exercise have long been part of the treatment at Excelsior. But as the variety of options has increased — from meditative yoga to intensive kickboxing — counselors and teachers say it's easy to see how physical activity helps the girls battle depression.

Marty Zaffaroni, Excelsior's wellness director and a longtime fitness trainer and educator, says he has seen a shift in treatment approaches. In addition to getting therapy and taking medication, girls are counseled on exercise and diet.

"It's a more holistic approach," he says. "We've learned that when the girls get workouts, they sleep better, and they can handle stress.

"They say they look forward to going for a half-mile lap around the property. They like starting their day that way."

Jordan Binkley came to Excelsior already convinced of the need to exercise. A fan of team sports, the 14-year-old likes playing volleyball, running track and taking exercise classes.

"In a treatment center full of drama, it gives me something else to do," she says of her athletic interests. "It keeps me out of trouble and not thinking about stupid things, like running away."

Exercise, she says, "helps you be in good space."

It's easier to imagine Binkley running in track practice than running away from home when she was only 13. She spent several months on the road and then some time with a relative before being put in a group home. Next, a juvenile court judge sent her to Excelsior, where she has been for the past nine months.

She says she hopes to go home soon and wants to keep channeling her energy into athletics rather than running away from her problems. Binkley is typical of many residents at Excelsior, who stay about a year.

Barrios, with nearly three years at the center, is an exception. For the first two years, she largely fought authority and treatment.

"Kids who come from abusive homes assume blame for the behaviors," says Joan Gabrielson, Excelsior's executive director. "They think they caused the abuse, that they deserve it, that they are awful."

Often, the kids start bullying and abusing others.

It takes a lot of effort to turn those thoughts around, a task Excelsior tackles on multiple fronts with therapy, education and outlets for exercise, art and other forms of expression. The staff didn't give up on Barrios, and things began improving for her last summer. That was about the same time Excelsior finished work on a recreation center with an Olympic-size swimming pool, built with $1.7 million in foundation funds and donations, according to Kathy Graveley, development director.

Barrios didn't know how to swim, but she was drawn to the water and took lessons and aerobics classes. The more she exercised, the lower the number got on the scale. The better she got at swimming, the more her self-esteem rose. Barrios continued her lessons after the pool closed for the season, going off-campus to another facility.

The girl who her whole life was told she was fat and ugly became fit and strong and confident. She stopped bullying other girls and started mentoring them.

"I used to get picked on a lot," she says. "I know how it feels. Now I can empathize with people and encourage them to do what I do."