Why Parents Of Teens Look For Help Through Residential Treatment Centers

Residential treatment centers ( RTC’s) are 24-hour care therapeutic facilities licensed by the state in which they are located. These specialized facilities offer therapeutic as well as educational services and other activities based upon and a well defined, individual treatment plan.

These facilities were designed to serve children who need therapeutic guidance, as well as 24 supervision. These programs are usually used as a “step down” from psychiatric care, as well as a facially that accommodates children who have put themselves or the community at risk.

Residential treatment centers offer mental health treatment to troubled teens and children. The types of treatment often vary, depending upon the individual child’s needs as well as therapeutic/ psychiatric problems.

Most RTC’s provide group therapies, medication management, and are peer-cultural. RTC’s settings also vary. While some Residential treatment centers resemble more of a psychiatric facility, others resemble group homes or halfway houses.

Troubled teens and children that display behavior such as deteriorated mental health, depression, self-mutilation, drug abuse, lack of motivation or those that act out sexually are all good candidates for an RTC.

Parents Find Help at Residential Treatment Centers

Parents that are fed up with their out of control teenagers behavior, and don’t know where else to turn, can truly benefit from the many services of a residential treatment center.

Troubled teens that are currently exploring and dabbling in negative behaviors such as substance abuse, can find rehabilitation as well as therapeutic assistance in order to combat their addictions.

There are of course many options for parents to consider when choosing a residential center. Because of the wide variety and different types of RTC’s, not every facility is right for your teen.

If you are interested in sending your child, or know that your child would benefit from the services of a residential treatment center, make sure you do the necessary research before enrolling them.

Issues With Transitioning From Mental Health to RTC and Home

This article is was created to inform the reader about the various issues that youth face when they transition from a mental health facility into a Residential Treatment Center or home setting.

A troubled youth that transition into a new setting, face new rules, expectations, peers, and authority figures. This, of course, can be very distressing. This transitional phase can be a very difficult one, sure of taking an emotional toll on the child.

When children and teens proceed to go into this transitional phase, issues such as anxiousness, depression, social problems may occur. Researchers have done studies on what emotional distress of this transitioning phase can do to children.

One study showed that a large portion of boys ( about 50 %) display oppositional behavior disorder ( rude and defiant behavior), about one-third of the boys ran away or were otherwise unaccounted for, and 20% of the boys displayed violent tendencies.

Abuse can be another factor that can go into a child’s poor behavior when transitioning from a mental health setting. Children who were physically abused, sexually and mentally, had a harder time with coping to their new surroundings compared to those who did not experience abuse.

These children will display behaviors such as oppositional behavior towards authority, depression, self-harming or cutting, and lack of any social interaction between peers and authority figures.

Mental Health Facilities and Troubled Boys

Studies have shown that boys that struggle with the transitional phase of mental health facilities to RTC”s more than likely have a legal status of being a delinquent, more likely to display criminal behavior, and less likely to display suicidal tendencies than girls.

Girls that have struggled with the same transitional phase, however, were more than likely to have shown suicidal behaviors, were more likely to have been sexually abused and were less likely to resort to criminal behaviors as an outlet of uncontrollable emotion and frustration.

These factors mean one thing: RTC staff other authority figures that are having difficult time with children and teens displaying negative behaviors, should be aware that this could indicate that the particular child has suffered some sort of abuse and that when a child displays such negative behavior, it is usually because of their history of abuse. By understanding this, staff will be able to collectively keep their calm, not be easily frustrated, and help the child get over their current obstacles.