Troubled Teens Resources

Parents researching schools for troubled teens have their work cut out for them. May we suggest that you listen to this Teen Options podcast that will give you a good start in organizing your search.

As you peruse the internet you will run into different reports about various youth institutions throughout the country. As usual, the press sensationalizes incidents of possible abuse, failing to sing the praises of the many youths that have had their lives turned around by time spent in a troubled teen program.

The article excerpted below is more balanced than most, touching on possible problems as well as recognizing the good that this youth ranch has achieved.

“Mount Carmel Youth Ranch is a group home where troubled boys ages 12 to 17 from around the country spend from three weeks to 18 months living and working on a 40,000-acre cattle ranch.
[…]
Boys must first enroll in the ranch’s wilderness program, where they live in a rustic cabin with few amenities and no running water.

For three months, they earn credit for good behavior toward greater privileges before moving to the long-term bunkhouse, a more traditional group setting.
[…]

Activities, which also earn school credit, include such ranch chores as mending fences and delivering calves.”

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Parents need to do the same thorough research regarding programs for their teens as they would were they investing in a business or real estate. Sound direction and good counsel is readily available for diligent and conscientious parents.

Teen crisis intervention via various animal therapy programs is gaining many adherents and advocates. So many troubled teens are shredded emotionally, unable to feel empathy or feel the kindness and concern extended to them.

Animal therapy programs employing either dogs or horses as means to reconnect the teens with their emotions, and in turn their families, are very powerful metaphors for the power of caring.

An advocate for troubled teens in Arizona is planning to create a troubled teen boarding school based solely on the efficacy of animal therapy - in this instance the animals are horses.

“The ranch, along with an additional 23,000 acres that will be leased from the government, will allow the program to run 350 head of cattle, 200 head of Arabian horses and house facilities set up for 50 boys who will immerse themselves in chores, school, counseling and horses.

The boys ranch plans to start with five boys and add five more every seven weeks.

Three years in the making, Searle said he has put a program in place that will use natural horsemanship as the tool to help troubled boys work on their issues.

“We want to teach the boys to be horse whisperers, and in that process we’re hoping that they learn about themselves and communication with their parents,” said Searle, the managing general partner. “The idea is to use the horse as a mirror for the boys to become responsible and basically see themselves.”

(Source)