Troubled Teens Resources

A milestone in a troubled teenager’s journey to healing is when they return home from teen boot camp or from the boarding school where they successfully completed a drug treatment program and rehabilitation. It is a time of joy, appreciation and fear. Fear of relapse can haunt the teenager as well as the parent.

An effective boarding school treatment program will have provided the troubled teen with a variety of tools to combat relapse.

One of the most important weapons against relapse is to have successfully implemented a complete change in lifestyle. It is important not to revisit “the scene of the crime”, i.e., old hang outs or gathering places where the struggling teen may run into the old crowd. New friends are part of the process, friends who are committed to the teenager’s success. Even new music and clothing styles can help the transition as th e old styles very often reflect the drug culture the teenager has just shed.

“A lifestyle change is not easy to make or maintain. Lapses (a one-time return to addictive behavior) and relapses (a return to an addictive lifestyle) do occur. Some people relapse several times before new behavior becomes a regular part of their lives. Thus, it is important to learn about and use relapse prevention techniques. Before discussing prevention, it is useful to understand the nature of relapse.”

Here are a few basic principles to apply in preventing a relapse.

• Ask for help from an experienced peer and use relaxation skills to reduce the intensity of the anxiety associated with cravings.
• Develop alternative activities, recognize “red flags,” avoid situations of known danger to maintaining new behavior, find alternative ways of dealing with negative emotional states, rehearse responses to predictably difficult events, and use stress management techniques to create options when the pressure is intense.
• Reward yourself in a way that does not undermine your self-caring efforts.
• Pay attention to diet and exercise to improve mood, reduce mood swings, and provide added strength to deal with stressful circumstances and secondary stress symptoms, including loss of sleep, eating or elimination problems, sexual difficulties, and breathing irregularities.

Relapse Prevention

A brilliant student, an ardent athlete, a compassionate and responsive teenager, Ben was every parent’s dream teen. Early in his sophomore year his younger brother met with a tragic accident that no one could have foresaw, yet Ben blamed himself. Therapy and counseling could not ease the young man’s guilt but drug and alcohol and rage did. His self-destruction advanced at an accelerated pace. Within 1 year after his brother’s death he was strung out on heroin and facing possible jail time.

When Ben should have been starting to look at colleges, his parents were instead seeking out boarding schools and specific troubled teen therapy programs that would not only bring about their son’s recovery, but redeem the lost time and academic achievements that Ben had once been fiercely proud of. Ben’s parent were looking for a boarding school that would summon from Ben the breadth of his talents, reconnect him to his integrity and would set him firmly on the course that his skill and intellect dictated.

They were impressed with the emphasis on discipline and structure offered by various boot camps and teen wilderness programs but sought to find that one boarding school that could answer all of their concerns. Parents of troubled teens need to invest time and deep consideration when choosing a boarding school for their teen. More so, think beyond the teenagers recovery, beyond their stay in the boarding school. Consider boarding schools whose programs will help position your teenager on a trajectory that will continue the momentum of healing and rehabilitation they achieved in school.

The John Dewey Academy is an example of one such institution. With sufficient time, a parent can find teen therapy program tailored for their teenagers needs, personality, and intellect.

“…the John Dewey Academy is a coeducational college preparatory boarding school with a strong therapeutic component.
and
JDA is unique in its strong emphasis on academic excellence in the midst of an intense (and intensely ambitious) therapeutic program. We do not believe in warehousing dysfunctional adolescents; rather, we wish to provide the setting and caring community (positive peer culture) which facilitate change.”
(Source)

It is hard for the rebellious teen to see the down side of a good high. Boredom and alienation drove them into drug abuse and, for a very short time, drugs seem to offer all of the excitement and fulfillment an empty heart could need.
Until you need more. And then more. But what every drug addict will admit is that nothing will ever match the sensation of that first time. Drugs seduce the teenager into believing that they will always deliver nirvana. By the time a teenager realizes that the first thrill will never return, a great deal of damage to body and soul have occurred as the before and after pictures on this page demonstrate.

What a drug addict will state unequivocally is that freedom from drugs results from wanting to be free. And that is the hardest part of all. What can you say to an addicted teenager to make them want to live? Drug addiction is, after all, a long drawn out suicide, a dangerous dance with death.

That is why it is critical that a parent choose a boarding school, boot camp or wilderness program that employs tools and therapies that will help the troubled teenager find the value in who they are. When a teenager has the time and space to take the aborted journey of self-discovery, with sound guidance they will slowly discover their inherent skills and gifts that past pain, trauma or chaos in their lives prevented them from nurturing. When a boarding school’s treatment program can help a struggling teen to then start honing their natural gifts - be it music, writing, or mathematics or mechanics, the teen will grow to start protecting his new found inner wealth as passionately as they once protected their stash. It is much harder to destroy what you love and an addicted teenager is incapable of self love.

“My last rehabilitation was at the Wilderness Treatment Center in Montana. That program changed my life. I am forever grateful. I learned that I was responsible for myself and the direction of my life. The program gave me the ‘tools’ to deal with my drug addiction. The first 30 days were basic counseling sessions (group and individual), mixed in with outdoor recreation and ranch work. After 30 days at the ranch, a smaller group of 4 to 8 kids went into the mountains for 3 weeks of strenuous hiking. Later, when I was a wilderness instructor at the center, I saw more change in the kids during their 3 weeks in the woods than in any other aspect of their treatment. Kids sometimes would have a dramatic shift in their perception of the world. Twelve years later, I still regularly attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, as well as bringing Alcoholics Anonymous meetings into juvenile detention facilities and adult jails.”
(Source)

Recovery is often a long and arduous road, but there is hope for parents dedicated to saving their teenager from a life of addiction. Partnership for a Drug Free America has an excellent database of boarding schools, boot camps and drug treatment programs. Find one in your area.

Some teenagers have managed to make it into their teen years without much having been denied them. Spoiled by harried parents or neglected by indifferent parents, the troubled teen has experienced very little in the way of discipline.
When such a teenager is placed into a military boarding school, the shock can indeed be mind altering.

The teenager with excess makeup will be made to remove it. A sneer or an attitude will not earn the defiant teenager street creds in a military boarding school. Rather it will earn them extra duty. All the priveleges the rebellious teenager has felt entitled to now must be earned. IF they want to play a video game or watch a favorite TV show, they can only do so if they have enough “points in the bank”. Suddenly and finally, bad behavior will prove costly.

Here are some basic guidelines in seeking out a military boarding school.

What are Military Schools?

Military schools are very structured schools. Typically they have a regular school year with summer vacation. Students or Cadets can be boarded or some military schools offer a Day Student discount for those that just attend the school during the day.

Who are appropriate candidates for Military Schools?

Military schools are good for those students who do not have any major behavioral issues, but just require more structure in their lives. Military schools usually have entrance exams where students must pass with an average to above average academic background.

Who are not appropriate candidates for Military Schools?

Military schools typically have a low tolerance for students with behavioral issues such as: disrespect for people in authority, low school attendance, poor grades, etc. They do not work for students who have emotional or behavioral problems including, ADD/ADHD, clinical depression, and ODD.

Why aren’t Military Schools appropriate for behavior modification?

Military schools do not provide an in-school treatment program as a general rule. These services might be contracted through a private practice while your teen is at a military school, but the schools aren’t equipped for teens with emotional or behavior problems. Military schools don’t have a solid follow-up program and support system needed for troubled teens and their parents. Programs of a confrontational nature have been proven to create more problems for troubled teens.

How much does it cost to attend a Military School?

Most military school cost about $3,000 to $5,000 per month for a nine-month period. Most require the entire nine-month tuition up-front. Some will break the full tuition up into 2-4 payments. Uniforms and other costs are an additional cost of about $1,000 to $4,000 that is required to be paid up-front with the tuition.
(Source)

It’s not as simple as going down a list of boarding schools for troubled teens and simply choosing one that seems promising. You’ll need to also inquire as to their treatment philosophies and the specific therapies that they employ , Alas, you’ll find that there are as many varieties of drug therapies and treatment philosophies as there are boarding schools. Or so it seems.

In order to make an informed decision regarding the best boarding school or treatment program that is available for your struggling teenager, parents should seek counsel beyond what they may be able to receive from their teenager’s school counselors. Working with a qualified therapist to assist in the process of selecting the appropriate boarding school or boot camp will allow a parent to become educated to the various schools of thought on effective treatments and direct them towards those schools that employ programs that are most applicable to their teenager’s temperament and stage of addiction.

So now you are confronting the seemingly impossible task of selecting a qualified therapist.

Here are some guidelines to assist in that search.

Types of Psychotherapy - Psychoanalysis

Cognitive and Cognitive Behavioral Therapies

Credentials - Types of Psychotherapists

Finding a Psychotherapist

Interviewing and Selecting your Psychotherapist

Therapist Locator

Many parents were exposed to the concept of wilderness therapy through the series of programs and spin offs that go under the heading of “Brat Camp“.

If you have a teen struggling with drugs or alcohol problems, you have probably accumulated quite a list of possible residential treatment programs available at boarding schools, boot camps, and military schools and are well aware of the different therapies and philosophies endorsed and exercised by these varying treatment facilities.

Wilderness therapy differs in methodology and temperament than treatments offered by boot camps, wilderness adventures or the more traditional boarding schools. Wikipedia offers the following explanation of wilderness therapy.

“Wilderness therapy is a form of outdoor education treatment that relies on the natural aspects of a primitive outdoor sojourn. Like adventure therapy and boot camps, wilderness therapy is often used for behavior modification by the families of young people. But the aims and methods of wilderness therapy don’t center on behavior modification. Unlike adventure therapy, wilderness therapy programs avoid what they view as manipulations, contrived activities, psychological games, and contrived consequences (ANASAZI Foundation 1990). And unlike boot camps, they employ no force, confrontation, point or level systems, or other overt behavioral modification techniques or models. They stress assertiveness, open communication between staff and students, and are very group-oriented.

“Wilderness therapy programs trace their origins to outdoor survival programs that placed children in a challenging environment where determination, communication and team efforts were outcomes” (Conner 2005). According to the Director of the Wilderness Therapy Program at Naropa University, “through contemplative practice and the experiential outdoor classroom, students gain further self-awareness and the ability to respond to whatever arises in the moment” (Piranian 2006). And according to the founders of ANASAZI Foundation “we learned that whenever we adopted what we have come to call ‘contrived’ experiences, the overall impact often diminished for the participants” (ANASAZI Foundation 1990).”
(source)

SoberRecovery.com provides an extensive list of wilderness therapy programs currently available.

Which boarding school or residential treatment program or wilderness therapy that you choose for your troubled teenager is predicated on many factors. Not the least of which is correctly assessing how deeply troubled your teen actually is. There is quite a bit of difference in temperament and severity between the rebellious, moody, bored teen who perhaps only needs guidance and esteem builders and the depressed, angry, substance abusing teenager.

Residential treatment programs are tailored for the teenager that has an addiction, is in a deep depression, suffering an eating disorder or other serious behavior problems. Some treatment programs will allow the teenager to remain at home in the community and with more severely troubled teens, a hospital environment may be necessary.

Therapeutic-based boarding schools “offer social, emotional, physical, and spiritual guidance, in addition to educational enrichment for troubled teens. While scholastics play a significant role in their curriculums, emotional growth boarding schools are designed for the student with a history of under performance, both personal and academic, whose acting out behavior is compounded by issues including poor self-esteem and a negative self-concept.”

Wilderness programs typically are directed towards teenagers who are not considered high risk and many such programs are designed to serve as “a rite of passage”, bringing a less confident youngster into the realm of their own powers and skills.

It is terribly difficult to choose which boarding scool or treatment is appropriate for your troubled teen but after some initial investigation you will be equipped to better decide which program best meets your teen’s psychological and emotional state.

National Youth Networks is a site that can help you distinguish between the various boarding schools, wilderness schools and treatment programs and guide you in your preliminary investigations.

“Unfortunately, many adults do not really believe that young people possess the quality of “greatness,” which is perhaps not surprising since youth seldom are provided with opportunities to display their true human potentials. Positive Peer Culture is concerned with setting expectations high enough to challenge the young person to do all he is capable of doing. To expect less is to deprive him of the opportunity of feeling as positively about himself as possible.”

As a parent of a struggling teen you will have already accumulated a great deal of information on a variety of boarding schools, boot camps, and wilderness schools. Much as a student decides on academic curriculum, a parent will be seeking a boarding school for their teenager that incorporates curriculum and programs that will supply their teenager with simple, viable tools with which to modify their behavior and tools with which to successfully navigate through the traumas and pain that life inevitably brings.

The teenager often has no ability to recognize their “own greatness“. Indeed, quite the opposite occurs within a unhappy teenager’s mind; self-loathing,doubt, and shame will blind a young person from recognizing the wealth of strength and talent that they have yet to tap into.

It is very hard to destroy what you value and once a teen is able to experientially comprehend the value and gifts that they possess, their instinct will be to nurture and protect who they are, not self-destruct. To successfully walk in the power of one’s own strength, to supply the wind for one’s own sails, is headier than any narcotic available. Ask any teen who has successfully embraced their recovery programs and shed their addictions. The radiance of renewal and recovery is unmistakable.

” Positive Peer Culture makes no pretense of turning over all decision making to the students. Adults never abdicate their authority or responsibility. Instead Positive Peer Culture is so designed that adults are in control without controlling. A flight instructor does not give full control to the student pilot but is always available to take charge if hazards are encountered while the student learns to fly. So in Positive Peer Culture, adults assign responsibility to youth and then teach them to follow through on that responsibility.

The notion of heavy demands on students is not altogether fashionable, and traditional mental health concepts have sometimes been interpreted to say that setting high expectations actually is harmful for young people; hence, those with problems sometimes have not been sufficiently challenged to use the strength they possess. These ideas were criticized by Victor Frankl.

“If architects want to strengthen a decrepit arch, they increase the load that is laid upon it for thereby the parts are joined more firmly together. So if the therapists wish to foster the patients’ mental health they should not be afraid to increase that load through a reorientation towards the meaning of one’s life.’”
(Source)

Any boarding school or youth camp a parent chooses will need to incorporate programs and disciplines compatible with the teenager who is in criss. Positive Peer Culture presents another school of thought that parents will want to investigate when deciding which boarding school will prove the best fit for their teenager.

Of all the various treatment therapies available for the parent of a troubled teen, animal assisted therapy has long been found to be highly effective in breaking through the angry teen’s barriers.

“The integration of animal-assisted therapy into clinical psychology was first credited in 1962 to the child psychologist, Boris Levinson, with his paper published in Mental Hygiene, “The dog as a ‘co therapist’.” Levinson discovered he could make significant progress with a disturbed child when Levinson’s dog, Jingles, attended therapy sessions. He went on to find that many children who were withdrawn and uncommunicative would interact positively with the dog (Levinson, 1969). Animal-assisted therapy has a long, but undocumented history, and it has only been in the last half of the twentieth century that research and professional response has been conducted on the use of animals in therapy.”

(source)

A struggling teen has often completely shut down emotionally. Unable to handle the chaotic emotional landscape they stumble through, it is simply easier to feel nothing at all. Caring for a pet is a safe way for a the troubled teen to again step out of himself.

“Taking care of a pet could give some children a new leash on life. A recent study found that when paired with a multi-disciplined approach to treatment, caring for an animal improved the behavior and social interactions of severely troubled youth in a residential treatment setting.

According to the study, the youth developed significant attachment with the dogs they trained . Teens also indicated they felt responsible for their dogs, a characteristic of growing maturity, doctors say. In addition, the study found that children who cared for pets had changes in their levels of:

•Positive social interactions
•Appropriate self-disclosure
•Emphatic feelings.”
(source)

Parents in the process of selecting a boarding school or youth treatment program may want to investigate those offering animals assisted therapy. Many teenage treatment centers have integrated pet therapy into their range of programs.

Boot camps, boarding schools, military schools, teen ranches, wilderness youth programs. Choices - a seemingly infinite number of of choices. For a parent with a teen who is advancing rapidly  down the road to destruction, the multitude of programs and treatment facilites from which to select the best treatment program can be frightening and confusing.
As you embark upon your search, be prepared for the horror stories because there are many, and some, unfortuantely, are true. Thankfully, horror stories are the exception and a wealth of information is available for parents seeking help for their at-risk teenager. But, as with any important investment, emotional detachment and objective appraisal of all the available facts will help you render a decison unclouded by the chaotic emotions at play while in the midst of seeking help for your son or daughter. And this is surely an investment that requires clarity of mind and purpose.

The following guideline provides an outline for key areas of concern.

• Who is the Director and what are their credentials and background?
• Is the facility licensed?
• Will I be able to speak with my child? How often?
• How often can I visit my child? Are there required visits for parents?
• What types of financing is offered? Do they have scholarships?
• Are there extra fees over the tuition?
• Will my insurance cover any of the tuition?
• What is the average stay? Is there after-care?
• What is their success rate? Do they have a guaranty?
• If my child turns 18, can they stay if they are willing to?
• Do they offer open enrollment?
• What are the average age and how many students are in the school?
• If it is coed, are they kept separate? How?
• What form of discipline is used? What are their consequences?
• Is their staff qualified for their position with the school? Do they do background checks on their staff prior employment?
• Educational:
• Is the academics accredited? Through what organization?
• Will their transcripts be accepted at their local school?
• Are the teachers credentialed? What is their experience?
• Do they offer special education or help with learning disabilities?
• Are SAT, ACT or other college placement tests available at the school?
• What is their extra curriculum? Do they offer music, sports, arts, etc?
• Do they offer vocational courses or college courses?
• Are there extra fees for special classes?
• Medical and Therapy:
• Is therapy offered and is it included in the tuition?
• If not, what is the fee and will my insurance cover it?
• Where is the nearest hospital to the facility?
• Is there a doctor or nurse on staff? If not, how often to they visit?
• Do they accept children on medication? Do they believe in medication?
• Behavior:
• Will they keep a child that doesn’t want to attend?
• Do they accept children that are escorted?
• Can the child be expelled? If so, what must they do to get expelled?
• Do they accept teens that are extremely aggressive?
• Do they accept Court Appointed teens?
• Do they accept teens with criminal records?
• What types of children are accepted into the school?
• Safety Measures:
• If a teen runs away, what procedure is taken?
• Is the facility staff secured 24 hours a day, 7 days a week?
• What are the credentials of the staff?
• What is the staff-to-student ratio?
• Is there regulations put on mail and phone calls?
• Do staff members read the mail? Do they monitor the calls?

(source)

Though a pervading sense of urgency may fill your every waking moment, this is the time to slow down and take measured steps to assure that the wisest choice is made for your teen and your family. There is indeed a long road ahead but, with the vast array of resources available to parents today, it is a road that can lead your child into the bright future that you envisioned.