How to find a therapeutic summer program, camp or school for my troubled teen? Parenting difficult teenagers has become an epidemic across the country.
Many teens today have been experiencing depression, anxiety, under-performing in school if not completely failing classes — we’ve even witnessed a rise in student’s that were once honor roll students that are now barely passing.
Internet and cell phone addiction has been a major contributing factor to young people’s mental wellness.
Is your teen:
-Rebellious, defiance, rage?
-Entitled? Backtalk, nasty attitude, disrespectful?
-Drifted from family values?
-Cell phone addiction, video gaming?
-Failed in school or poor academic performance?
-Hanging with a negative peer group?
-Vaping or experimenting with drugs or alcohol?
-Overall started making bad choices?
Therapeutic summer programs can be an excellent time to give your teenager a boost of self-esteem as well as helping them with grade recovery if they have been underachieving during the school year.
If your teen has been making these bad choices for a while, chances are good it will take longer than 6-9 weeks to undo this negative behavior. However since making the decision to leap into a residential treatment center or therapeutic boarding school is not only an emotional one, it’s also very expensive — starting with a summer program can sometimes be a way to determine if your teen is a fit for the longer-term program.
After attending a therapeutic summer program, you can determine the following:
1. They come home and go back to school in the fall.
2. They continue with the therapeutic boarding school educational program.
3. They come home, go back to school and things don’t go so well, you know that they can go back to that program and finish it.
Summer programs can be a win-win situation if you select the right one. The positive side of using a therapeutic summer program that is part of a therapeutic boarding school is so your child doesn’t have to switch facilities if you determine they need longer care.
It is important to realize if you have had behavior issues for over a year, it didn’t take 4-6 weeks to get to where you are, it’s unlikely the behavior will change with a short-term summer program.
Some parents feel more comfortable committing to a shorter version of a therapeutic program rather than jumping into a full 6-9-12 month school which is completely understandable. It can give them an opportunity to evaluate the program, therapists and staff. You are unsure if their teen needs a full therapeutic boarding school just yet.
This can also be helpful if your child successfully completes the summer session, however months later starts to stumble in your home setting and you determine they need to go back. Therapeutic schools offer open enrollment all year round so they would be able to be there to assist you.
Read: 5 Benefits of Therapeutic Boarding Schools.
Read: How Cyberbullying Effects Mental Health.
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Contact us today for summer resources. We have helped many families since 2001 with their troubled teens.
