Molly MacNaughton, BJ(Hons)’24, has spent the past year of her Master of Journalism (MJ) degree meticulously sorting court documents and listening to personal experiences from former residents about the conditions inside the Wood Street Centre Secure Treatment facility, the only court-ordered involuntary youth treatment centre in Nova Scotia.
“I just feel like nobody’s really thinking about child protection,” says MacNaughton. “If you’re not in child welfare, if you’re not in the system or if you don’t work in the system, you’re not really thinking about kids and youth in the system.”
At the end of March 2025, MacNaughton pitched a deep-dive digital story into the conditions at the Wood Street Centre, a complex with two youth mental health treatment facilities. The institution includes the Wood Street Centre Secure Treatment facility.
In the early days spent researching, MacNaughton felt like there wasn’t that much buzz about Wood Street, despite the numerous allegations of negligence and abuse since its opening in 2003.
“Through more research on group homes, I got to Wood Street,” says MacNaughton. “And that’s why I wanted to tell this story. I was curious because nobody’s really talking about Wood Street.”
Throughout a year of research and reporting, she spoke with former residents, social workers, lawyers and activists to fill in the picture.
“My mom was also a child protection social worker,” says MacNaughton. “So, I got a glimpse into her life too.”
The first part of her Professional Project was published in The Halifax Examiner on February 6. She pushed to publish the first half early due to former residents launching a lawsuit against the Wood Street Centre in October of last year. After the article went live, MacNaughton was flooded with more former residents and retired social workers wanting to share their stories as well. Part two was published in The Examiner on March 27. It dove even deeper into the treatment inside the facilities and shared more experiences of youth in the system.
MacNaughton says the program at King’s gave her the time and capacity to explore a story deeper than she ever has. “It is a major project that you have a year to do and it’s mostly independent work. I like this because I have the time to do a deep dive and do a lot of research and talk to a lot of people and come back to those people and fact check.”
She credits Gillian Findlay, her mentor, and Professor Lisa Taylor, the program’s faculty advisor, for supporting her through the research, reporting and publishing process.
While she isn’t set on any specific plans after graduation this May, MacNaughton says long-form freelancing is definitely an attractive option.
