Programs for Teens

Programs for teens serve to correct many different behaviors. If your teen has struggled with any of the following behaviors or disorders for 6 months or more, placement in a program could be beneficial.

- lying
- defiant
- Difficulty paying attention (ADHD)
- Failing in School
- Experimenting with drugs and/or alcohol
- Laziness
- Poor relationships with peers
- Seeking negative attention from the opposite gender
- Troubled with the law
- Extreme moodiness (Bi-Polar)

If your child fits any of the above mentioned criteria please take our online assessment for a better idea of the severity of your teens issues.

Programs for teens come in many shapes and sizes. For instance, wilderness programs are usually 4-6 weeks in length and often do very little in terms of long-term internal change. These programs usually cost between $10,000.00 - $20,000.00 and are mostly found in the Western United States. The main purpose of a wilderness program is to serve as a stabilization period for the youth. Most wilderness programs will recommend that the teen go to a long-term boarding school or residential treatment center after the 4-6 week stay to continue the process of change for a successful long-term behavior shift.

Boot Camps, like wilderness programs, are primarily held outdoors. These programs heavily rely on “scare tactics” to instill change in the teen. Many times, these programs are utilized for teens that would benefit much more from being in a more structured boarding school style program. Most experts agree that long-term change must be 100% voluntary or it will not be lasting. Anyone can be scared into acting differently but to have real change become an innate part of the teen, they must want the change themselves. Those who are successful in working with teens know how to influence or persuade them to live a better way. To influence denotes winning over a teen. The teen must connect with and respect those they are around in order to consider what is being presented to them. Again, in our opinion, boot camps are effective for only the most severe offenders who need a forced initial change.

Residential Treatment Centers and Therapeutic Boarding Schools have many similarities. Most Residential Treatment Centers or Therapeutic Boarding School are equipped to deal with and help almost any teen in trouble. The structured setting of a boarding school is especially effective when the outdoors is utilized and the students are given a good diet of academics, chores, fun, structure and exercise. In our experience Private Boarding Schools are most effective when they are well rounded. In some cases Boarding Schools market themselves as Therapeutic when in fact the school environment is very loose and the residents are allowed free access to the campus with other teens (male and female) who are at the school for the same reasons. Often the result is breeding worse behaviors, or at a minimum a continuation of the same behaviors that the parent is trying to stop.