Troubled Teens Resources

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”.

Troubled Teens And The Economy

Today’s society presents many different challenges for the youth of
America.  As adults we get caught up in how the problems with the economy is going to affect us.  The typical teen of today is very aware of what is going on in the world, and even the world economy.  Discouragement and despair can take a teen into the dangerous path of “I don’t care” and “what’s the use”.  Left unchecked the teen can end up in the troubled teen category simply because they think the world is coming to an end.  With no hope of any kind of future, a typical teen starts to exhibit abnormal behaviors.  Their once positive attitude it replaced with doom and gloom.  They may even gravitate toward friends that have found an out by abusing drugs and alcohol.

Who is This Child and What Have You Done With Mine? 

This new behavior brings with it a host of problems that you and your teen may have not faced previously.  Once the teen begins to abuse drugs or alcohol their grades will begin to slip and their attitude toward the home and family will also change.   They will typically be less willing to help around the house or even be found at the house.  Their appearance will diminish usually along with their personal hygiene. This new path will usually include encounters with the law.  The now troubled teen maybe caught shoplifting, intoxicated in public, getting in fights, and possibly even driving a vehicle under the influence of drugs or alcohol.  Some families have found help with a child who has given up by working with their religious counselor.   

Communication is the Key 

It is imperative that the parent develop an open line of communication with the child.  This is easier said than done.  It will take sincere interest in your child’s life to get them to open up to you.  This must be done without becoming a friend to your teen, they don’t need a friend they need a parent, an adult who can help them figure out how to deal with the stresses they are facing.With your teen facing the spiral downward it may be necessary to look at alternatives outside the home.  There are many options for parents to consider we recommend two such places www.tiptonacademy.com for boys and www.meadowlarkacademy.com for girls.

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)

Parents who bite the bullet and take the necessary steps to stop their troubled teens plunge into drugs are to be commended. It is a hard road to begin walking down, but the ultimate consequences of denial are far more painful.

The downward spiral for the drug addicted teen is rapid. One day your teen is the same old great kid and the next day a sullen and disrespectful teen replaces him. Or so it seems. But drug use escalates other dangerous behavior. Promiscuous and careless sex that can result in disease or pregnancy. Failed grades or expulsion from school will leave a teen without a secure path to the future. Drug deals gone bad can result in a teen being busted or worse, dead.

So when parents finally heed all the warning signs, they are ready to start researching some long term solutions for their teen. But where do you begin when tracking down schools for troubled teens?

Teen Options offers a very helpful podcast that gives parents a good overview at what to look for in schools and programs and how to narrow your choices down to those institutions that will meet your teen’s needs.

Here are a few suggested questions to ask prospective schools with the complete list to be found at the link below.

• Can you take a teen if they don’t want to stay?
• Can the teen get kicked out?
• What must they do to get kicked out?
• Do you take aggressive teens?
• What are the program age ranges?
• Are boys and girls kept separate? How?
• What types of financing do you have?
• What contact do parents have with teen?

(Teen Options)

There are many schools for troubled teens that offer strict rules and regulations that some teens need , but some teens need something different. There are new types of schools that are not only giving teens an education but teaching them new skills and helping them gain a new out look on life and the world. These new schools use different kinds of ways to help teens at risk that some other schools don’t offer.

“Outback feels it is critical for students to continue their education during their expedition, rather than taking a break from school altogether. Outback, in conjunction with Woodland Hills School, has designed a unique academic program that helps students continue their education while receiving intense clinical support, treatment, and development. We find that students rediscover a joy of learning while in the Outback program - so they are inspired to succeed in school when they return home.”

“Kids relate to symbols - clothes, name brands, hot gadgets, and celebrity icons.Outback’s use of metaphors and experiential education to effect a symbolic rite of passage have more impact and are more effective than talk-therapy traditionally used for adults. Students begin a transformational journey against the backdrop of mountains and blue sky.”

“In an independent research study by Keith C. Russell, PH. D., of the University of Idaho’s Wilderness Research Center, various outdoor education programs for adolescents — including three Aspen programs — participated. The study concluded that participation in such outdoor programs resulted in clinically significant reductions in severity of behavioral and emotional symptoms. More than 83% of participants made such improvement. Almost half (46%) of participants returned to a normal range as a result of treatment. After an 18-month study, researchers concluded that the participants not only maintained their outcomes, but continued to improve after treatment.”

If sending your teen away to a boarding school full time is something you feel is too extreme for your teen , there are many other programs to consider. These programs will still let your teen get the credits that they need for there education , but they will get treatment at the same time in a much different way.
(source)

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If parents do not want their sons or daughters enrolled in schools for troubled teens, they’d best include a drug education “module” for their kids just as they made sure that their kids were educated about strangers and sexual predators.

High school presents a whole new battleground for parents and no matter how good your teen is, you can’t predict when a moment of weakness and some available drug will intersect, presenting an opportunity for troubled teenagers to indulge.

But they might think twice if they know that their parents are vigilant, willing to administer drug tests and fully intend to mete out severe consequences for any infractions.

Dr. Phil has a thorough list of suggestions on how to be a conscientious, drug fighting parent. Below is an excerpt, the article in it’s entirety can be found at the link below.

• Lock your liquor cabinet.
  Brandon started on his course with alcohol and drugs at about the age of 13 when his parents went out of town and he decided to raid their liquor cabinet. He chose the clear liquor because it was the easiest to replace with water.
• The most trusting parents are the ones who are the easiest to take advantage of.
  Brandon lied to his parents a lot. He’d tell them he was going out to eat, bowling, or to a movie, when instead he was headed to a party to get drunk. When he came home late, some of his excuses were: he ran out of gas, he had to take some girl home who lived on the other side of town, there was a huge accident so the road was blocked, etc.

(Source)

A diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder does not instantly sentence your teen to years of Ritalin or Adderall. Many parents are dismayed to contemplate the possibility of medicating their teenager, concerned about possible drug dependencies later in life as well as possible health ramifications.

Parents who wish to exhaust every “natural”, non-medicated alternative choose to work with those mental health professionals who have developed programs that teach the ADHD teen behavioral “tricks”, e.g., harnessing the energy of ADHD, learning to utilize hyper focus and gaining mastery over restlessness and anxiety. Schools for troubled teens and specialty schools have emerged, over the years, specializing in “non-medicinal interventions”.

“A U.S. study shows non-medicinal interventions help prevent behavioral and academic problems associated with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Researchers from Lehigh Valley Hospital… focused on 135 children aged 3 to 5 who showed significant symptoms of ADHD — a mental disorder that makes it difficult for children to control their behavior and pay attention. Early intervention techniques included highly individualized programs that often rely on positive supports to reinforce behavior.

Using a variety of early intervention strategies, parents reported, on average, a 17-percent decrease in aggression and a 21-percent improvement in their children’s social skills. In the classroom, teachers saw a 28-percent improvement in both categories. Early literacy skills improved up to three times over their baseline status.

The researchers suggest a multi-tiered approach to intervention…”Medication may address the symptoms of ADHD, but it does not necessarily improve children’s academic and social skills,” study leader George DuPaul said in a statement.”

(Source)

If Alice Cooper, “a founder of the shock rock genre, and infamous for his gory stage shows”, extends his youth outreach to developing schools for troubled teens, those would likely be some very interesting schools. At present however, Mr. Cooper is in the process of building a Youth Center in Phoenix that just might prove to be a Pied Piper for the teens at risk in Phoenix.

“The center will aim to get teens in Phoenix off the streets.
[…]
The center will also attempt to make the youths interested in a music career as an alternative to crime, and will feature a recording studio and sound room, a concert hall, and a coffee house with a stage for performers. Cooper spoke of his confidence in the scheme’s potential, saying “If you get a kid that’s just as addicted to that guitar as he would be addicted to selling crack, it will change his life right then and there. I’m sure of that.”

(Source)

Cooper, now a Christian, is dead right.. Addicts who have beat their “jones” often describe replacing a bad addiction with a positive one. One friend transitioned out of drugs when she realized dancing made her higher than drugs. She now teaches dance and gymnastics. You don’t destroy what you love, at least not usually. For a teen to discover that he has music inside of him is a priceless gift, and it will “change his life right then and there”.

America isn’t the only country with troubled teenagers who are better served by a specialty school or schools for troubled teens. A state sponsored program in New Zealand takes a slightly different strategy in educating their out of control teens, with more of an emphasis on education that will likely assist their troubled teenagers with a job in addition to academic credentials.

“It is a day program with classroom time in the morning and in the afternoon the teens learn practical farming skills such as fencing, managing horses, horticulture as well as workshop skills such as engineering and welding.

“The simple fact, is that our kids don’t fit within the school model. [We teach] those general practical things – still from an education basis but looking at that outcome of learning for the future,” he said.”

The tenets to which this school subscribes are universal values that defy all of the pop psychology thrown at the problem of troubled teenagers; Motivation, Work Ethic, Belief in Self.

“So we actually end up with a plan of action around the young person and, while you get some sort of resistance, as you start knocking off all those problems you start to resolve the situation. And I think that is actually what makes us different,” he said. The most successful cases are those where parents also participate.”

(Source)

The essential need for parents to be closely involved in their teens education is also a universal value. In the end, it would seem this ageless wisdom will always be superior to the coddling and victim card mentality presently handed to teenagers in the public educational system.