Troubled Teens Resources

The youth of today are faced with many different challenges and pressures on every front.  They are pressured by peers to experiment with drugs and engage in sexual activities.  It is difficult for the youth of today to stand up to the pressures of their peers they “hang out” with.  Some teens can experiment with drugs a little and decide if they like the experience.  If they decide they don’t like the way they feel when they are high they quit and move on.  The problem is some youth are unable to stop after their first experience.  With Meth such an affordable drug and so readily available many teens are unable to break the craving to continue to use it.  It is a fact that many people become a Meth addict after one experimental try of the deadly drug.   For more information on this popular drug follow this link to Meth information.  The link will take you to a site entitled Teen Success.  The site is very informative and can give you suggestions on how to help your teen succeed.  You can also find information on boarding schools for troubled teens.

Tipton Academy is one school that Teen Success refers to.   Tipton Academy is an all boy campus using positive peer pressure and a unique dog training program.  The boys are able to train a dog and then help the recipient, a physically challenged person learn to utilize the animal.  This method has proven very successful, and has assisted many teens in turning their lives around.  The positive peer pressure is very effective in helping teens learn how to motivate each other and how to receive constructive criticism.  The teen is much more likely to respond to direction from a peer than an adult.  This is why the positive peer culture has proven so effective.

Meadowlark Academy is another program the Teen Success refers to.  It is an all girl’s facility also using positive peer pressure combined with the dog training program.  Girls are able to train the dogs very effectively and the dogs respond very well to them.  The girls are also responsive to the positive peer pressure.  In many cases the problems troubled teens have in life are tied to following the crowd mostly because of the peer pressure that drives the crowd.  Once a teen learns to be free thinking, independent, and not so worried about what their negative friends think they are well on their way to success. 

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”.

Liz was numb. She glanced at her 13 year old teenager. The forbidden tattoo was defiantly blazoned on his forearm, holes from the removed piercing still were visible on his nose. Those things would fade, she pondered, but would the hatred and sullenness in his eyes and face and words ever go away?

They were waiting for their therapist who was going to accompany Liz and David to the military boarding school where David’s out of control behavior and burgeoning drug abuse had led them. Liz couldn’t help but remember the last time she had sent her son anywhere it was to summer camp when he was 10. His joy and animation seemed like memories collected from another life, a life when they were a happy young family and her son a bright and enthusiastic child. How could that only be three years ago, she mused. What had they done so wrong in three years?

Liz of course is not alone. Thousands of parents have gone through the painstaking research on residential treatment programs, teen boarding schools and brat camps. Thousand have stood with their insides torn apart, waiting to deliver their child into the embrace of the boarding school or military school that research and counsel had led them to select.

And perhaps that is the hardest part. Getting rid of denial and getting down to doing the research that will save your troubled teens life. Military schools, or boarding schools that embrace the disciplines and structure that military schools are noted for, are most often the institutions parents of troubled teens decide upon. Lack of structure and discipline are very often the key factors in an at-risk teens descent into drug abuse and out of control behavior.

In exploring boarding school options, parents hope to find programs that not only embrace discipline but also employ innovative and empowering programs as well as providing a continuum for their teen’s education that will place them well when they graduate. Tipton Academy for boys and Meadowlark Academy for girls are two such institution that offer a comprehensive package of programs and exemplifies what the parent of the troubled teen should seek out.