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Understanding Therapeutic Boarding Schools for Troubled Youth

The Crucial Benefits of Therapeutic Boarding Schools for Troubled Youth

What do adolescent psychologists mean by “breaking the cycle” when discussing therapeutic boarding schools for troubled youth?

Schools that cater to at-risk or troubled youth provide comprehensive programs that are designed to meet the unique needs of teenagers who are struggling with emotional and psychological issues. These therapeutic boarding schools offer a structured environment that is conducive to learning, growth, and development.

They also provide counseling, academic and mental health support services that are tailored to each student’s individual needs. Through these programs, at-risk youth can receive the help and guidance they need to recover and thrive.

Just some of the many crucial benefits of a therapeutic residential boarding schools include:

      • Improved educational opportunities for kids who struggle with ADHD, dyslexia, and other learning disabilities

      • Emotional regulation, behavioral and mental health support provided by a combination of mental health and education services

      • Development of healthier lifestyle habits and new life skills that will help elevate their sense of independence and self-esteem

      • Enhancement of personal insight into why they think, behave, and make decisions that may be counterintuitive to what they really want to happen in their lives

      • Individualized treatment plans are created for each teen following a comprehensive intake assessment.

      • Embedding immersive, real-time counseling guidance in the teen’s daily routine

    The best boarding schools for troubled youth offer accredited educational classes, licensed and experienced teachers, counselors, and therapists, and at least one psychiatrist on staff who can prescribe and manage a teen’s medication. 

    Activities that encourage teamwork and sportsmanship with peers are also provided by therapeutic boarding schools, as well as individual activities such as creative writing and art.

    Breaking the Cycle: Breaking the Cycle of What?

    The “cycle” is what troubled teens become trapped in when they keep repeating behavior patterns that are problematic and consequential. For example, a 16-year-old boy keeps getting in trouble at school for fighting. 

    Since the teen was 13, he has had difficulty getting along with others, claiming the other person “always started it” by calling him names or making him angry on purpose. 

    The teen is always punished by the school and his parents, but the punishment doesn’t seem to break the cycle of fighting with his peers, his teachers, and his parents.

    His last punishment involved his parents taking away his cell phone and grounding him for a month. The school also suspended him for three days and recommended counseling for the teenager. 

    However, the boy refused to attend counseling and his parents are at their wit’s end. What should they do next? Who can they turn to for assistance with making such a monumental decision about their child’s life?

    This teen is caught in a cycle of uncontrollable anger, dealing aggressively with problems and physically assaulting others. He gets in trouble, and he gets punished. He gets in trouble again. He gets punished again.

    Obviously, the teen needs more than what the school and his parents are attempting to do--make him think twice before fighting. This tactic is not working and will never work with an adolescent who is incapable of understanding why he thinks and behaves in ways that create chaos in his life.

    Therapeutic Boarding Schools (TBS)for troubled youth break and stop the cycle of destructive conduct by removing a teen from an environment they are unequipped psychologically and emotionally to cope with. 

    Therapeutic boarding school staff teach kids how to understand and regulate their emotions, accept and think objectively about their emotions, and determine what would be the most productive way to handle a stressful situation.

    Rarely do teenagers without mental health or behavioral issues become students at boarding schools for troubled youth. In fact, there are schools uniquely created for teens with specific needs like ADHD, major depression, bipolar disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, and substance addiction.

    Before researching boarding schools, parents should consider having their teen diagnosed by an adolescent psychologist or psychiatrist to learn if their child requires specialized attention from therapists and educators whose experience focuses on certain mental health and behavioral disorders.

    When Should You Send Your Teen to a Therapeutic Boarding School?

    Parents expect teenagers to experience the same “growing pains” they endured themselves as teens. Typical adolescent behaviors such as moodiness, disobeying household rules occasionally, wanting only to be alone or hang out with peers, and acting like they already know everything there is to know about life has made parents pull out a hair or two since time began.

    However, when teens are constantly in trouble at school, at home, or with law enforcement, refuse to go to school or obey parental rules, and engage in high-risk activities that could harm themselves or others, it may be time to consider sending your teen to a therapeutic boarding school. 

    Learn more about the benefits of boarding schools for teens and their parents by contacting us today.

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