Troubled Teen Boarding Schools Troubled Teens

Tipton Academy is located in Tipton Kansas; it was opened in spring of 2005.
Tipton is unique from many other schools in that it operates on principles of a Positive Peer culture. This means that the boys are given a lot of freedom as they move through the program. Troubled Teen boarding schools have come under fire in recent years because of abuse that has happened at a few schools. Tipton has worked hard to see that students are not abused, but given the opportunity to make the changes necessary in their lives. Mike McClendon is the Program Director at Tipton Academy he has 10 years of experience working with troubled boys. His experience has been the catalyst of success for Tipton. His sincere love for the boys and determination to see them succeed is at the core of the Tipton Academy success.

Tipton’s remote location also adds to the entire experience of the boys. The country lifestyle and honest work ethics from the people of Tipton are an example to the boys in the Academy. The Tipton Community fought to keep their own middle high and elementary school’s in town. As a community they built an elementary school in 30 days with volunteer help and donated funds. Tipton is truly a remarkable town and Tipton Academy feels fortunate to be located amongst such great Americans.

Tipton Academy is unique in that it has a dog training program for the boys which allow them to assist in training dogs to assist the handicapped. They work in conjunction with CARES a non profit organization in Kansas. CARES provides dogs to people with special needs. The boys are also able to present the dogs to their new owners. This is an emotional event when the boys present something they have become attached to; to another person is a life changing event. The person in need is very appreciative and new owner and old trainer share a very positive experience.

Tipton Academy also offers the boys opportunities to work while they are enrolled. Tipton is home to some of the finest bird farms in the area. Many people come to Tipton each year to hunt pheasants and other game birds. This industry gives the Tipton Academy boy’s opportunities to work in the game bird industry when they invoke enough trust from the program staff.

Tipton Academy has truly become a positive place for change. Many boys have made drastic improvements in their lives graduating high school and going on to college. Like any school Tipton has also had students that didn’t make the best of their stay at Tipton and some have gone back home and fallen back into their old ways. Overall Tipton is an effective option and positively affected the lives of many young men.

What do you do when you find that your teen is using drugs?  It is becoming more of a reality for parents in today’s society.  Some parents are shocked to find that their child is abusing drugs or alcohol.  The “rest of the story” is sometimes even more disturbing.  A teen that is abusing drugs has to be buying them with something.  Initially a troubled teen will steal money from parent’s siblings and other extended family members.  When they get caught doing this they are forced to become more creative to support their new habit.  Some teens turn to selling drugs, prostitution, or burglary to purchase the drugs they need.

If a teen opts to sell drugs he is introduced to his drug dealers’ source.  The more he sells the higher up he can go until he is no longer dealing with kids from his school or neighborhood.  He has entered the world of dangerous criminals that will seriously hurt anyone that crosses them or doesn’t pay them.  It can make a parent shutter to think about the possibilities this scenario could have.  Needless to say, their child is in over their head.  In many cases the child doesn’t even realize the danger his life is in.  It may be difficult to remove a child from a situation like this.  It is possible however, but much caution and certainly police involvement should be obtained. It may be necessary to move your child far away from the negative friends and drug dealers that he is hanging around with.  Parents have found help by moving their teen to Tipton Academy in Tipton Kansas.  The remote location is ideal for making positive changes.  It is unlikely that any of your child’s “friends” will travel very far to help them making Tipton’s remote location even more attractive.  When a troubled teen is removed from his circle of so called friends there are very few that will even inquire about where he is. 

TiptonAcademy has helped many youth learn positive behaviors through the positive peer pressure techniques used there.  If you have teen that is treading in dangerous waters give them a call they can help 877 968 8443.  Tipton Academy has been in business for almost 4 years and they have successfully helped many families to get back together.  If you would like to talk to one of the parents of Tipton Academy students, give them a call.

When a troubled teen is given chance after chance to clean their act up and they just keep getting into trouble it might be time to send them to a troubled teen boarding school.

“The 15-year-old narrowly avoided a detention sentence, after she refused to co-operate with the Youth Offending Service and continually breached her curfew order.
The girl had been sentenced to a supervision order with a curfew earlier this year for a number of offences, including being drunk and disorderly, punching and headbutting her boyfriend outside the Wrexham Tesco store and smashing equipment in a Wrexham youth home.
However, she failed to comply with this order on a number of occasions, despite being given a last chance to do so in September.
Magistrates at Wrexham Youth Court heard representations from the Youth Offending Service, who expressed concerns about the girl’s safety and said she was “spiralling out of control”.
The youth offending team told the court the only way to deal with the teenager was to send her to a detention unit.
Jane Meyers, defending, told the court she agreed and saw no other option.
She said the common thread through was alcohol misuse.
Ms Meyers said the teenager, who had been in care since the age of two, had no previous records until these offences and had found it difficult to adjust over the last two years after leaving her foster home of 10 years and being relocated.
She added her client was very vulnerable and incidents of self harming were becoming more serious.
However, magistrates decided not to send the girl to a detention unit but sentenced her to a 12-month conditional discharge.
They defended the decision, saying they were putting more responsibility on the teenager to prove she could sort herself out with the help of her social workers.”

Tipton Academy is an effective option for troubled teen boys.
(source)

One of the troubled teen boarding schools that we refer to is Tipton Academy.  They have been helping families for a little over three years.  They use some unique techniques to help young men make changes in their lives. 

Tipton Academy utilizes Positive Peer Culture along with a dog training program that allows the young men to train/foster a puppy while they are making changes in their own lives. 
 Programs have successfully used animals for many years to help youth make changes in their behaviors.  It is impressive to watch the impact it has on a boy when he sees that his outbursts scare his dog.  At the very least the dog’s reaction initiates the young man to stop and think about how he is speaking to others, leading him to learning ways speak rationally to those he is in conflict with.  Another advantage of this program occurs when the boys are able to train the new owner of the dog they have been training.  This is an emotional event has a positive impact on both the recipient and the trainer. 

Tipton Academy is fortunate to have competent leadership with years of experience in helping troubled teens.  Michael McClendon is the Director at Tipton Academy.   Mike, or Big Mike as the boys call him has 10 years practical application using the positive peer techniques.  In Mike’s words, “It takes more patience to use this type of program because the boys actually prove to themselves that life is easier when they behave properly.  This happens when a student is forced to face the “natural consequences” of his choice and actions.  The best example of this is when two boys arrive at approximately the same time.  When one boy making appropriate choices advances and the other student who arrived at approximately the same does not advance, the natural consequences are explained to the boy.   Once he is able to clearly see he is his own worst enemy, the one who controls his own progress he will usually begin to start make better choices.  This lesson also has true life applications; when someone makes good choices they achieve positive things, just as negative choices and actions reap negative rewards and consequences”.

Parents researching schools for troubled teens are naturally apprehensive. How to discern good advice from bad, how to determine which programs being offered are appropriate for their teen’s issues? Should the school be close to home, or far away? What will their insurance cover? How often will they see their teens? Is there follow up?

Teen Options offers an informative podcast that will help parents sort through their options. In fact, all of Troubled Teen Resource’s sites are replete with information for parents of troubled teens. But how do you evaluate the staff? These are the people who will study the teens in their charge in order to motivate, counsel and instruct them. What constitutes a good leader for youth?

Just so happens, I’ve run into some suggestions for that answer:

“…the five characteristics present in those who most effectively work with young people:

• they see genuine potential in youth.
• They put youth at the center of their programs.
• They believe they can make a difference with youth.
• They feel they are contributing to the community something they owe.
• They are “unyieldingly authentic.”

(source)

Having worked with youth, and long ago, having been one of those youth who were “worked with”, I can vouch for the desirability of the above traits. Authenticity can permeate even the most determined defenses. Teens may yet resist what they are being taught, but they have an instinct for detecting hypocrisy, at least they do when they take measure of those who will tell them how they need to live.

Likewise, passion for youth is almost mandatory, and you’ll find evidence of that passion in the resumes of the counselors and teachers at professionally staffed schools.

Can a cigarette ultimately lead a kid to teen drug abuse,land them in jail or in schools for troubled teens? Well, it’s a stretch, but the first step down that road has to start somewhere and a recently released report offers the opinion that it starts with that first cigarette.

“Compared to 12- to 17-year-olds who don’t smoke, teenagers who do are over five times more likely to drink and 13 times more likely to use marijuana, media reported quoting a U.S. study Wednesday.

Smokers aged 12 to 17 are more likely to drink alcohol than nonsmokers — 59 percent compared to 11 percent, the study found.

Compared to those who never smoked, those who began smoking at age 12 or younger are more than three times more likely to binge on alcohol — 31 percent compared to 9 percent, and nearly seven times more likely to use other illegal drugs such as heroin and cocaine.”

If indeed the report proves to be accurate - and one always hesitates to accept these findings without further confirmations down the road - none the less, if it is true, then the sequence of addictions is one everyone is familiar with.

The question that has often been posed by parents asks if teenagers seek relief for their depression and anxiety via drugs or if drug use precedes the onset of those conditions. This suggests that smoking could set the teen up for both.

“Teenagers who smoke also have a higher risk of depression and anxiety disorders. Teens who reported early initiation of smoking were more likely to experience serious feelings of hopelessness, depression and worthlessness in the past year.”

(source)

These are exactly the kinds of adolescents that schools for troubled teens, brat camps and other programs for troubled teens are designed to catch. Those teens who are floundering in school, who haven’t strong family support. They are the ones who are vulnerable to the call of gangs of the temptations of drugs. These types of teenagers need a sense of purpose and programs like the community supported Silver Star Youth Program are indeed life savers.

“Larry Seta, 19, has a high school diploma, a job and a wife he married just two weeks ago. Seta says he owes everything to the Silver Star Youth Program at Rancho Cielo outside Salinas.
[…]
When Seta entered the Silver Star Youth Program at Rancho Cielo, he said, he spent the first two and a half years in and out of the court system.

Seta said he felt isolated and didn’t know how to apply himself. He only had a few credits of the 220 needed to graduate from the youth rehabilitation program.

But program officials guided him onto the right track, Seta said, and he was able to graduate and get his high school diploma 10 months ago. He now works at Salinas Steel Builders. Two weeks ago, Seta married, and in five months, he and his wife are expecting a child.”

(source)

Some troubled teens can’t be helped simply because they really do not want to apply themselves. But for those teens who have the heart to live a productive life, but no clue how to accomplish that, guidance and mentoring prove key to their learning how.

While Americans struggle with the notion of charging violent troubled teens as adults, New Zealand is considering lowering the juvenile prosecutorial age to 12 due to youth crime so pervasive that some say ignoring it “could blight the future for generations to come.”

“NZ First MP Ron Mark has what he believes is one significant answer - a bill before a parliamentary select committee that would lower the age of prosecution from 14 to 12 and introduce tougher penalties for young, serious criminals.”

I hope they establish some teen boot camps and schools for troubled teens also. From these statistics, it appears as if they need them.

“In New Zealand 14 to 16-year-olds commit about 45,500 crimes each year, with children too young to be prosecuted involved in more than 8500 in one year.

Justice Ministry statistics show police picked up 700 children under 10 and 7900 children 10 to 13 last year for crimes including violence, drugs and burglary.

All too often police are powerless to intervene.

They say there is little they can do in cases like a 10-year-old who attacked classmates with a piece of timber, two 12-year-olds with 33 burglary charges, and a 13-year-old who attacked police with a baseball bat.
[…]
Under 14 they can only be prosecuted for murder or manslaughter.

After that, when police can deal with them, they are already career crooks.

One Lower Hutt 13-year-old in social welfare care for sexual offences abused two-year-olds four more times while in care, with police unable to act.”

(source)

Can violent juvenile offenders be rehabilitated? If there were enough schools for troubled teens, military teen boot camps and rehabs - not to mention funding - could you actually extract the killer from the teen who murdered a family, or the juvenile rapist who slit the throat of their victim?

That debate is ongoing, with one side insisting that violent juveniles can be rehabilitated, the other side stating that returning these youths to society, at any time, would place innocent people at risk.

The comments following the article excerpted below paint a clear portrait of how deeply divisive the issue of violent teens is.

“According to a new report produced by the Equal Justice Initiative (a non-profit group dedicated to helping prisoners denied fair treatment by the system), American prisons are home to 73 inmates locked up for life for crimes they committed when they were 13 or 14. Bump that age limit up three years and we have 2,225 prisoners locked up for the rest of their lives for crimes they committed when they were 17 or younger.

These crimes aren’t minor — and the nature of our violent culture is an entirely different story — but some of the children confess under duress or, worse yet, are developmentally disabled. They languish in lockdown, without hope.

But are they proof that these children can’t be rehabilitated, that they can’t benefit from help and that they are beyond redemption?”
(source)

You would think that a student who reported sexual abuse by a teacher would not be the recipient of her peers’ and teachers’ contempt and disdain. You would expect that the school would fire said teacher and make amends to her family. But apparently some teachers protect their own. That is what one family discovered after reporting a music teacher’s sexual advances.

“It’s a silent epidemic is what it is,” the girl’s father says. “People are protecting people who aren’t worth protecting. I hope our daughters will have that instilled in them, too — that you report what you know.”

Their daughter finished her education in private boarding schools, unable to endure the backlash her report unleashed.

“Immediately after news of Sperlik’s arrest hit in January 2005, people began questioning the girls’ motives: Why didn’t they come forward sooner? Were they really telling the truth?

Some think their parents simply want money from a lawsuit.
[…]
It was almost too much for the girl, who never anticipated such harsh public scrutiny.”

The troubled teenager dyed her hair black and began a ritual often associated with sexual abuse - cutting. Finally, an attempted suicide landed her in a psychiatric hospital.

“I just can’t take it anymore,” she wrote in a note to her parents.

(source)

And neither should parents. Read the article in full and understand that it must be parents who protect their teens’ best interest. Recent reports on sexual abuse perpetrated by teachers, like the one quoted, suggest that all to often, some in the teaching profession are far more interested in protecting their own.