Therapeutic Schools
Therapeutic Schools

Therapeutic Schools

Therapeutic Boarding Schools for Teens

Therapeutic boarding schools can be very beneficial for troubled teenagers who need help getting back on track in life. For most children, adolescence is like a roller coaster of emotions and experiences.

Both teen boys and teen girls go through serious emotional struggles that can cause depression, anger, fear, and disappointment. During this confusing time in life, teenagers need encouragement and positive support.

However, sometimes even loving parents are unable to provide their teenagers with the proper care and attention that they need. This is where therapeutic boarding schools, staffed by professional therapists and counselors can help. Therapeutic boarding schools provide a safe environment where troubled teens can learn to improve their lives and rebuild family relationships.

"There are many schools for troubled teens that offer this type of environment and one good example is Turning Winds Academic Institute. Located in Montana, Turning Winds offers residential treatment to troubled kids and teens, including adolescent girls."

The curriculum at the top therapeutic boarding schools expand the mind of the students and encourages them to apply the knowledge and skills they have acquired. Each student is given the chance to progress at his or her own pace in school.

More on Therapeutic Schools for Teens

Therapeutic boarding schools are designed to help troubled teens get through their most difficult years and challenges. Whether your teenager is suffering from drug abuse, depression or an eating disorder, a boarding school offers a structured, academic program that promotes self-discovery and healing.

However, with so many different programs available for troubled teens today, it is difficult for parents to decide whether a boarding school is a right solution to their teenager's problems.

Therapeutic school provide therapeutic intervention, including but not limited to, therapy, life coaching, positive peer leadership, emotional intelligence development, substance abuse counseling, individual and group therapy, family restoration, emotional stability, and a high-quality college preparation education experience (opportunity for grade repair, credit recovery, IEP and special ed support, and a student-based academic achievement program.

Therapeutic boarding schools house teenagers with a wide range of disorders including ADHD, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, depression and various anxiety disorders such as post-traumatic stress and obsessive-compulsive disorder. The school has also treated teenagers suffering from eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.

The benefits of therapeutic boarding schools are priceless. For example, Turning Winds therapeutic boarding schools are carried out by first-class clinical teams. The institute provides individual treatment plans that are tailored to address the needs of each teen. Teens will participate in weekly counseling sessions, group therapy sessions and career interest explorations. In addition, the school offers family therapy sessions. If this type of program seems right for your teenager, visit MyTroubledTeen.com for more information.

Therapeutic Boarding School - The Most Successful Intervention Approach

Modern intervention techniques have been specifically developed to address the deep seated psychological and emotional problems of troubled teenagers. With the development of cognitive therapy in the 1960s, its offshoot the cognitive behavior therapy, or CBT, swiftly became a popular intervention technique for therapists and psychiatrists after numerous studies showed that it is effective in treating a wide array of psychological and emotional problems.

In 1998, leading researchers Kaslow and Thompson compiled a report showing how evidence based psychosocial treatments can have an especially favorable effect compared to other classical approaches. Most importantly, the report proved that CBT therapy is the most effective method in reducing the recidivism rates of participating teens, including those suffering from major psychological and emotional disorders such as depression, anxiety, ADHD, etc.

Therapeutic boarding schools, who are the primary users of the CBT method, should be used in treating troubled teens. Many therapeutic boarding schools employ cognitive behavior therapy in junction with known clinical treatment methods and these schools have a better track in producing good results, as opposed to the vague results produced by boot camps.

Similar to when searching for a good boarding school, parents looking for a good choice should first look if these aspects are present: an accredited school or an accredited program, certified and qualified staff with certified and qualified clinical team, a good overall feedback from parents regarding the school, and feedback whether the staff show care and empathy for their students.

Other Types of Therapeutic Academic Boarding Options

Military Boarding Schools for Struggling Boys: Before deciding to use a military boarding school you should first, correctly identify the underlying issues that your troubled child is dealing with. Before choosing a military boarding school, make sure you be able to honestly answer the question of whether your child really needs is discipline, or does he/she need therapy?

Your troubled child might be acting out because he or she is truly hurting (emotionally), or worse, dealing with an underlying mental illness. As a parent, a military school won't fix emotional or mental health problems and may make them worse.

If your child is battling with authentic emotional duress or fighting the symptoms of a mental disorder, then he/she would be better served to be enrolled into a residential therapeutic environment, such as a therapeutic boarding school. A therapeutic school setting would allow a troubled teenager learn life skills, coping techniques, and emotional intelligence development and become a better version of themselves.

Christian Boarding Schools for Troubled Youth: Christian boarding schools are private academic-based treatment programs, 12 to 18 months in duration (long term academic/therapeutic care), individual and group therapy, substance abuse counseling all in conjunction with an educational program for the purpose of helping struggling teens recover emotionally, mentally and academically.

Generally, a Christian therapeutic boarding school runs for one academic year (September to June), but some of the best Christian boarding schools for troubled teens offer year-round enrollment.

Because of their capacity to cater to the spiritual needs of their boarding students, Christian boardings schools are the best option for Christian families looking for a Christ-centered treatment approach that compliments therapy, academics, and emotional growth programming.

To ensure its students haven't left behind academically the top Christian therapeutic boarding schools offer academic enrichment components such as college preparatory, CLEP preparatory, distance learning program, special ed, etc.

When choosing a Christian boarding school, we recommend that parents make sure the school has the appropriate educational accreditation (able to grant diplomas recognized by colleges and universities), is licensed by the State as a therapeutic program, and proof of staff accreditations, credentials, licenses, and degree. Also, check into the school's spiritual philosophies, doctrinal teachings, and denominational affiliations.

Academic-Based Residential Boot Camp: Teen boot camps came about in the early 1970's as an alternative intervention-discipline method. Boot camps for troubled teens became popular and fast, spreading across the country throughout the 70's, 80's, and 90's. The U.S. Juvenile Justice System supported the efforts of local governments joined with local law enforcement agencies to provide juvenile delinquents an alternative to jail - the teen boot camp.

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Military Boarding School for Troubled Teens

In the United States, there are military style programs that are designed to provide tough love intervention to troubled teenagers. These programs are vastly different from the traditional military schools whose intended purpose is to prepare students for service in the armed forces and which generally do not accept teenagers with behavioral, mental or even physical problems.

Military boarding schools for troubled teens are offshoots of the teen boot camp programs that proliferated in the 1980s. They offer a longer term treatment compared to the short term "6 months at the most" teen boot camps.

Like teen boot camps, other military based teen intervention programs, military boarding schools for troubled teens operate on the tough love model, which is using accountability, responsibility, and self-imposed rule-based punishment based methods in military science (respect, honor, and discipline).

Among the many criticisms of military based intervention is the fact that a confrontational model is not the most appropriate treatment for kids with severe emotional or mental problems, and it is a model most susceptible to abuse.

According to a number of medical experts and researchers, military based intervention also does not reduce recidivism rates of its participants. While the above standard physical fitness and a highly disciplined, highly structured environment can provide huge benefits to teens, rehabilitation programs that are not designed to scare, deter or control troubled youth are still better alternatives.

The biggest problems with military-style solutions is that these military style programs (boot camps, military schools, etc.,) have not been proven to be an effective intervention for the correction or long-term behavioral improvement for most troubled teenager.

Disadvantages of Military Boarding Schools for Troubld Boys

According to various studies made into the subject (starting in 2001 until recently), long term military schools and short term troubled teen boot camps do not directly address the unique requirements of children and teenagers with real behavioral, emotional and psychological problems, and thus, they have never been effective in fulfilling any of their stated goals. This is because these military camp programs are designed to administer discipline, order and structure, and never therapy.

For example, troubled boys suffering from various forms of depression will need proper intervention methods such as therapy and counseling, rather than a "yell in the face" or swift "kick in the groin" in order to learn how to manage themselves better. The same goes with kids suffering from behavioral issues such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD/ADD) and oppositional defiant disorder; these kids do not need a military model in order to learn how to behave.

In 2007, Jaime E. Muscar, associate with King & Spalding's Tort Litigation Practice, conducted an investigative research regarding military style programs' effectiveness in dealing with troubled teenagers and at risk youth. Muscar found out that not only the antagonistic, in your face military model is counterproductive and only negates rehabilitation and treatment effortsof the school; it is also a system very open to abuse.

Muscar's studies have shown how a military model can pose a threat to the safety of its participants, of which could cause permanent damage on them. According to Muscar, this highly confrontational nature is one reason why it should not be used in the juvenile treatment system.

Christian Boarding Schools for Troubled Youth

Christian boarding schools for troubled youth are private residential schools managed by religious organizations. Since most of them are private institutions financed by charging their students tuition, they are usually exempt from most local, state or national regulations. Some schools, however, are systemic schools that are funded by a large portion by the state or federal government and have low tuition fees.

Generally, therapeutic Christian boarding schools follow a respective mission, among these is helping troubled and struggling youth. Some Christian boarding schools are tailored to very specific needs, such as treating kids struggling from substance abuse.

Like private schools, private Christian therapeutic schools offer enriched learning environments due to low student to teacher ratio, small class sizes and better facilities.

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Teen Cutting Class? Truancy? Failing in School? Always in Detention? Maybe There's Something Else Wrong.

When parents feel that they’ve done everything they can to help their teens and they’re still getting into a lot of trouble, they can’t help but wonder if something else is wrong.

What can parents do if their teens have problems cutting class, struggle with failing grades or are always in detention? It’s probably time to step back and reevaluate the situation. Look at the possible underlying reasons why your teen is acting out in school.

There are many possible reasons why teens are struggling in school. Too many times, people try to solve the symptoms without taking the time to understand the problem. While addressing the symptoms is important, it is not enough to help teens get back on the right track.

The best way to know what is causing your teen to struggle in school is to ask, as well as be sensitive about the answers that are not said out loud. Parents can sense if there’s something changing in their teens, they often just ignore their instincts and attribute these red flags to normal adolescent behavior. Here are a few common reasons why teens always get in trouble in school:

Negative peer influence – Peer pressure can make a teen do something they wouldn’t usually do on their own. Many teens are influenced by their peers to shoplift, drink, engage in dangerous activities, and make other poor choices. Negative peer culture can alter the way a teen looks at himself/herself.

Being accepted or not being accepted into a group can have an effect on a teen’s self-image and turn what used to be a happy, friendly child into a depressed teen with poor self-esteem. Even teens who grew up in a strong, positive family environment are not always immune to the effects of peer pressure.

Fear of failure – Most teens do well in their studies during the first part of the school year and then begin to have problems towards the middle part. Perhaps the academic load has become too heavy and they got left behind. Rather than ask their parents and teachers to help them cope with the subjects they are having difficulties with, they just act like they don’t care.

Stress – Teens undergo a lot of changes in their life during adolescence. At times, their busy schedules put them under a lot of stress and they tend to make poor choices because they’re not coping well.

Emotional problems – Needless to say, teenage years are emotionally tumultuous times. Teens who have problems at home, experience rejection from peers, or are being bullied by other children may not have enough skills and maturity to handle the problems well. Usually, the first signs of emotional problems are related to performance in school.

Behavioral or mood disorders – There are some disorders that only surface during early adulthood or adolescent years, and there are disorders that get worse during teenage years because the symptoms were previously unnoticed. There are some disorders that come with other types of mood disorders which make it even harder to diagnose until the symptoms are already too pronounced.

For example, ODD (Oppositional Defiance Disorder) usually only surface during adolescent years and they usually come with other disorders like ADD/ADHD. Many parents who didn’t know that their teens had ODD or ADD/ADHD could not understand why their teens are acting the way they are acting.

Parental support and involvement are very important in raising well-adjusted teens. When dealing with teens who are always getting in trouble at school, it’s important to understand why this is happening. It may take some time and effort to find out the underlying issues, but it helps parents make important adjustments to their parenting style in order to fit their teen’s needs.

In cases where teens have an undiagnosed disorder, several kinds of intervention may make a big difference in your teen’s attitude. Medication, together with therapy and counseling can help your teen focus and become happier and more productive in school and at home.

How to Recognize Troubled Teens Through Their Behavior

My Troubled Teen has been helping parents of troubled teens for nearly a decade. Our years of experience can help you find the right help for your teen. We have put together the following information to help answer some common questions that many parents have as they are looking for help with their child.

If you are wondering about the severity of your teen's problems or are trying to decide if an out-of-home placement is necessary, please refer to the information on common troubled teenager behaviors below.

What are the warning signs to look for in order to determine if my teen is going down the wrong road? How to identify troubled teenager behaviors:

  • Distancing from the Family
  • Lying
  • Isolating from the Family
  • Drop in Academic Performance
  • Separation from Established Family Identities
  • Dress and Grooming
  • New Friends
  • Lack of Motivation
  • Drug Use
  • Cutting
  • Sexual Promiscuity
  • Running Away

If your teen's behavior meets some all of the above descriptions of troubled teenager behaviors, you are not alone. Unfortunately, today more and more teens are fitting this mold.

The danger is that all of these things beat down self-worth, discipline, and motivation for a better life. If left unchecked, these problems could result in irreparable damage.

In a day where our society treats teens as adults, we must remember they are not. In most cases, the overcompensation we see from them is exactly that - compensating for a void or for what is not there. They need supervision and love just as a toddler does.

This is not a time to lash out at them or to take personally the way they are living their lives. However, it is a time to do anything you can to save them from making decisions that could negatively affect the remainder of their lives.

Drop in Academic Performance

This can happen in one of two ways:

1) The teen's grades go from good to bad all at once.

2) The teen's failing in school happens slowly (A's turn to B's and then fall to C's). The important thing to recognize is the change in grades is clearly below the performance level of past years.

Poor grades are an indication that your teen is withdrawing at school. If your teen is withdrawing at home and school, he/she may feel hopeless and worthless which can lead to depression and suicidal tendencies.

The Academy of Pediatrics (in the journal Pediatrics, March 2005) indicates truancy and dropping grades may also signal drug use.

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Why Therapeutic Boarding School for Troubled Teens?

How do parents decide the best program that will help their troubled teen and the family? When parents decide on the best kind of program, often they do so with the mindset that discipline is the most appropriate response for managing teenagers.

However, according several of the field’s most prominent researchers, punishment based models do not always work in the teen intervention setting. Without a proper treatment method, intervention programs that rely only on intimidation, coercion, and force will result to failure because it failed in the first place to identify and deal with the deep seated issues of a troubled teenager.

That is one of the many reasons why therapeutic boarding school should be chosen over programs that employ such tactics.

Here are more reasons:

Therapeutic boarding schools utilize the best intervention technique:

  • Due to the improving knowledge in the fields of psychology and psychiatry, better intervention techniques are being designed to specifically address the psychological and emotional needs of a troubled teenager.
  • In the 1980s, cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) was developed through the efforts of several American psychiatrists, most notably Aaron T. Beck. It became a favorite therapy method after numerous studies proved its effectiveness in treating a wide array of psychological and emotional distresses.
  • In 1998, American researchers Kaslow and Thompson published on national report proving that CBT indeed has a favorable treatment outcome compared to other classical approaches and it is the most promising for treating a wide array of psychological and emotional problems common to teenagers, such as anger, defiance, depression, anxiety, promiscuity, eating disorders, etc.

In the recent wake of teen boot camp controversies, leading boot camp researchers such as Dr. Doris MacKenzie and Jaime E. Muscar published reports that programs utilizing aggressive methods in their intervention approach should be discarded in favor of programs that use proven effective methods such as CBT.

According to many experts, cognitive behavior therapy, such as those used in therapeutic boarding schools, offer the best chance of reducing recidivism rates and offering long term positive change in problem teenagers.

Therapeutic Boarding Schools are Proven Successful in Improving Teen Behavior

At the 2006 Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, researchers Ellen Behrens, Ph.D. and Kristin Satterfield, B.S. of Canyon Research & Consulting, Inc. presented their findings from a multi-center study of youth outcomes in private residential treatment setting.

According to their report, private therapeutic residential programs show better immediate output compared to other methods (including public programs) in dealing with the issues of troubled teenagers. Not only that, private programs also show long term positive growth on its participants, with the positive assessments still being carried a year after completing the program.

According to the study which monitored 1,027 teenagers, ages 13 to 18, from nine participating programs, for one year following their completion of a residential therapeutic program, it was learned that teenagers suffering from internal problems such as anxiety and depression benefited a steady decline in their symptoms a year after discharge:

For those having severe externalized problems such as anger, defiance, rebelliousness, substance abuse, etc, these teenagers benefited a steady decline in their symptoms a year after discharge:

Teens who completed the program and were assessed normal upon their release, maintained the steady decline in their symptoms a year after their discharge. According to the researchers, teens participating in a residential therapeutic program have the best chance of reduce their recidivism rates.

Therapeutic Boarding Schools Focus on Therapy, not Punishment

When choosing the best intervention program, you must first consider whether your kid truly needs a tough love program in order to learn to behave. Rarely will children need a tough love program to learn how to manage themselves better

More likely, what your son or daughter need is a program that will teach him or her learning coping skills, a program with lots of therapy, support and self-esteem activities.

In order to produce a lasting positive change on a troubled teen, they themselves must have a desire to change in the first place. Even with the best treatment method, without the desire to change, teens will just relapse into bad habits.

That is one major reason why punishment based models that utilize intimidation and scare tactics to elicit behavior change will never work in the teen intervention setting.

Tips for Finding a Therapeutic School for Troubled Teens

"How do parents choose the right program for their troubled teen?"

First, parents need to understand that not all programs are the same. For example, despite their popularity among government officials, corrections officials, and the public, there have been published reports since 1998 that teen boot camps and similar military style programs were never effective in their stated goals of providing intervention and treatment to troubled youth.

On the other hand, therapeutic boarding schools, whose primary treatment methods include cognitive behavioral therapy, have proven effective in treating a wide variety of problems, including depression, anxiety, personality disorders, psychotic disorders and substance abuse. Finding the right program involves knowing which works and which doesn't.

As of this moment, teen intervention programs can be roughly divided into two general categories: programs that use a punishment based model, or uses intimidation, scare straight tactics, and humiliation to elicit behavior change, such as teen boot camps, military schools for troubled teen, teen wilderness program, etc., and programs that uses a therapy based model as the main method of eliciting positive change, such as therapeutic boarding schools.

Whether you think your troubled teen needs discipline or therapy is up to your judgment, the type of treatment employed by a program should be the factor of your choice. However, it is rare for a teenager to need punishment in order to learn on how to behave.

At most, what he or she will need is a school that can also teach him or her coping skills and self-control strategies to manage stress better.

According to research, participants of therapeutic boarding schools generally have favorable feedback of their environment compared to other programs.
This graph shows how therapeutic boarding school compares to Teen Boot camp in several aspects. Data on this graph was acquired from NIJ findings

The safeness of the environment should also be a factor when choosing a program. Some types of intervention schools or programs are a considerably high risk, with high potential for abuse. This is especially true in military style schools and programs that are antagonistic in nature and that employ fear and intimidation based discipline.

One way of knowing if a school or a program fosters a safe learning environment is by reading online reviews regarding the school or talking with other parents whose children are participants of the program or school.

There are other considerations when choosing the right intervention as well. For example, aftercare is a very crucial component and should be one of the requirements parents should look for when deciding on an intervention program.

Aftercare the final decisive step in a continuum of care to effect a successful recovery and without a proper aftercare component, troubled teenagers will only relapse back into their old negative ways due to lack of continuous support and monitoring.

Generally, therapeutic boarding schools offer an aftercare program, which usually comes in the form of pre planned activities such as alumni homecoming, regular house visits, and scheduled counseling sessions. Short term intervention programs such as boot camps usually lack an aftercare program and it is one of the main reasons why these programs fail to produce a long term positive change.

When choosing a school, it's best to remember that those programs that offer empathic treatment towards their charges, which helps foster a cooperative environment where the teenagers also are active participants of their own welfare and rehabilitation efforts, and where they form positive bonds with their therapists, counselors and other teenagers, will always produce the best treatment output.


Is a Therapeutic Boarding Schools the Right Choice for Your Child?

Therapeutic boarding schools are private residential treatment programs that offer a long term therapeutic treatment in junction with an educational program for the purpose of helping struggling teens recover emotionally, mentally and academically.

Because of their capacity to cater to most kinds of teen problems, experts state that therapeutic boarding schools provide the best treatment outlook compared to other programs.

Generally, a therapeutic boarding school program runs for one year. To ensure its students haven't left behind academically, several programs offer academic enrichment components such as college preparatory, CLEP preparatory, distance learning program, etc.

When choosing a therapeutic boarding school, make sure it has educational accreditation and is licensed to award a high school diploma.

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Once parents understand their troubled teen is heading in the wrong direction, important decisions must be made in a timely manner. Depending on the severity of your child's problems, there is an intervention available that ..

Options for Helping Troubled Teens: Therapy, Boarding Schools & More

Once parents understand their troubled teen is heading in the wrong direction, important decisions must be made in a timely manner. Depending on the severity of your child's problems, there is an intervention available that can work. You may want to take our Troubled Teen test to determine the severity of your troubled teen's problems.

Below are a few possible options for helping your youth. The options near the top of this list should be considered for adolescents with fairly minor problems and the options at the bottom are more appropriate for helping troubled teens facing major issues and challenges.

  • Counseling
  • Restriction
  • Removal from Environment

In addition to these options, we have compiled a wide range of other troubled teen programs and schools for troubled teens that may be more appropriate for your teens, such as therapeutic boarding schools, Christian boarding schools, boot camps, wilderness programs, Christian programs and many others.

To learn more about these services, please select a program from the menu on the left. If you would like to speak with a professional representative who can answer your questions and guide you in the right direction, please select Get Help from the menu at the top of this page and fill out our online form.

Troubled teens need guidance and encouragement to make the right decisions in life. My Troubled Teen is available to provide you the parent with the resources you need to make a difference in your troubled teen's life.

Although it may seem like there is a long difficult road ahead, we believe there is always hope when it comes to defiant, addicted and/or troubled teens. Since every child is different and comes from a unique background and upbringing, it is best to take your time and research the best possible program for your teen.

While one teen may need a boot camp to get him/her back on track, another might respond better by attending a Christian counseling center. Choose from transitional programs, family-style programs, troubled teen schools, emotional growth programs, therapy for troubled teens, and much more.

Social and Emotional Development for Your Troubled Teenage Girl

Aside from the capacity to express their thoughts and ideas through verbal and written communication, one of the hallmarks of growing up children is their ability to identify, understand, and manage their emotions in positive ways.

This includes understanding that acting out of their emotions can have direct and indirect consequences affecting not only themselves but others as well, and that no one but themselves are ultimately responsible for their actions.

Once teens have mastered these skills, they will have the confidence to take on adult roles. They will have the mental and emotional conditioning to take on life's challenges without being consumed by emotions. They will have the capacity to restrain or delay impulsive reactions to powerful, intense emotions. These emotional proficiencies are collectively referred to as emotional self-efficacy.

For troubled teenage girls, which according to the National Institute of Mental Health have higher prevalence of social and emotional disorders compared to boys, their lack of emotional self efficacy will interfere with their capacity to fulfill the three crucial life goals that are determined during adolescence: breaking away from parents, finding one's life work, and finding a life partner. Thus, the failure for a teen girl, or any teenager for that matter, to develop emotional self-efficacy can have lifelong consequences.

According to Ida Rose Florez, Ph.D., assistant professor of early childhood education at Arizona State University, teachers play a vital role in helping teenagers develop foundational social and emotional self-efficacy.

It is through identifying the teenager's development needs and planning the kinds of modeling, hints, and cues to continue his or her development, giving/arranging and planning enough opportunities in everyday experiences for self-regulation lessons, withdrawing direct support as teenagers begin to demonstrate new skills, and continuous monitoring of the teen's activities to ensure that lessons are applied in everyday experiences.

Programs that help troubled teens develop self-efficacy

Fortunately, there are programs designed to help troubled teens develop self-efficacy. A foremost example is therapeutic boarding schools where teenage girls live in a structured and supervised environment where there is an abundance of opportunities for developing social and emotional skills.

Programs that are community-based and adopted from the therapeutic community model are found to be most effective in providing intervention and treatment to children suffering from social and emotional disorders. These programs for troubled teens are usually long term, with participative, group based treatment approach.

Some important things to consider when deciding on a therapeutic boarding school for troubled teens are the accreditations or certification it has, certified and qualified staff that puts the needs of the patient at the forefront, a good teacher to student ratio, and a financial plan that is affordable.

Although no therapeutic boarding schools for troubled teens are alike, some schools for troubled teens have a broader offering, with additional self-enrichment programs, also offered, such as life skills training, spiritual programs, and social events programs, as well as academic programs such as college preparatory, distance learning, etc.

Some programs for troubled teens offer music and art classes that complement therapy and rehabilitation as a way to provide patients a creativity outlet for stress management and enjoyment.

Troubled Teens - Removal from Environment

When all other methods have been exhausted many parents look for outside help. Typically when a troubled teen is out of control there is very little that parents, teachers, friends can do.

Many parents turn to Therapeutic Boarding Schools for help in turning their teen's life around. If the right school is found, many benefits can come from this option. If you are at the point where you are considering placing your child in a treatment facility please consider the following:

1. Make sure the school or program can work with the behaviors your teen is exhibiting.

2. Find out about the program's policies regarding their behavior modification techniques.

3. Most importantly if everything is comfortable thus far make arrangements to visit the school to meet the staff and residents. Most schools will be very open with everything they are doing and should be more than happy to have you come out and speak with staff and students.

A good indicator of how your teen will do at the school in question is to look at al of the teens who are currently there. Do they all look depressed and angry? Or, do the majority of the teens look happy and are they respectful? If the latter is the case and all other things feel right you have most likely found a school that will help your child.

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