It was a full member of the National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs (NATSAP) and was considered to be a part of the troubled teen industry.

The facility was closed down on April 1, 2011, due to multiple reports of abuse, many from former students, dating back to its opening in 1970.

[4] The Élan School acquired notoriety during the 1990s and early-2000s when former classmates of Michael Skakel, who had attended in the 1970s, testified against him in his trial for a murder that had occurred about two years before he had enrolled.

[6][7] Élan School was founded in 1970 by Joseph Ricci, a former heroin addict who had worked with young people in drug treatment facilities,[8] along with psychiatrist Dr. Gerald Davidson and investor David Goldberg.

[9] Ricci headed the school until his death on January 29, 2001 due to lung cancer, when his widow Sharon Terry took over.

[11] In the school's controversial[7] program, "humiliation" was identified as a therapeutic tool, as was following up on such intervention with encouragement and warm support.

[12] The school's treatment methods were based on the "therapeutic community" or TC modality popularized in the 1960s at facilities such as Synanon, and later at Daytop Village.

[15] Following this, he began keeping a file in which he documented names and phone numbers related to Élan, as well as reported abuses.

[2] On the evening of October 30, 1975, in Greenwich, Connecticut, 15-year-old Martha Moxley left with friends to participate in "mischief night", in which neighborhood youths would ring doorbells and pull pranks such as toilet papering houses.

[24]The New York Times has reported that, at the school, "smiling without permission can lead to a session of cleaning urinals with a toothbrush that can last for hours.

[15] Former Androscoggin County Sheriff's Office Captain Ray Lafrance stated that Élan would send groups in vans to search for and return runaways, and noted that the school only called police to report missing students as a last resort.

[35] Élan was featured in Children of Darkness, a documentary film shot in 1983 that explored the experiences of emotionally troubled youth and the various residences and institutions that housed them.