You want the best for your child. When teenagers are troubled with emotional or mental health issues or if they are misbehaving in school, you might wonder what you should do. If there doesn’t seem to be any hope for permanent change, a therapeutic boarding school might be your best answer. Parent advocacy groups highly recommend live-in troubled youth programs in Utah. Though parents often struggle with the difficult decision to send their child to a boarding school instead of letting them live at home, this might be the best solution for all involved.
Pristine Utah Surroundings
You can find parent advocacy groups with many years of experience working with top boarding schools across the country. These organizations help parents find the best programs with high standards and as well as promising rates of success. Utah provides many therapeutic boarding schools located in secluded environments with the ability to enjoy the restorative power of nature while working closely with several excellent schools throughout the state.
Advocacy Group Recommendations
Advocacy groups also help parents find boarding schools with a safe staff–to-resident ratio, usually at least four to one during the daytime. The facility should serve healthy meals planned by a registered nutritionist. Each resident should receive individualized treatment throughout their stay to address their unique needs and issues. These organizations also give you guidance on financial aid and customized recommendations based on your needs. Advocacy groups provide the benefit of offering impartial and unbiased advice since they are not part of any troubled youth program or therapeutic boarding school.
Learning Lifelong Skills
While each school has their own criteria, program emphasis, gender and age groups that they accept, many offer regular therapy groups, including drug and alcohol counseling. They also offer individual sessions where the students are shown how to make the connection between their personal struggles and their daily challenges and victories. In addition, therapeutic behavioral schools teach skill development activities to learn valuable lessons about teamwork while also acquiring a strong work ethic, developed through the discipline of routine chores.
Some troubled youth programs take place primarily outdoors and pattern their programs around physical activity, while others are the complete opposite and place an emphasis on academics. Students have opportunities to set and reach goals and develop self-confidence. They will find that these skills and many more gained at the facility which will help them navigate the real world for the rest of their life.
Many therapeutic treatment programs help teens deal with bipolar disorder, abuse trauma, abandonment issues, suicidal tendencies, anxiety, depression and other similar issues. These programs are usually 9 to 12 months in duration and function just like a high school. They emphasize helping your teen overcome behavioral issues via extra-curricular activities in addition to room and board. No matter which you choose — an outdoor or classroom-oriented therapeutic boarding school — they all have a clear mission and goal when it comes to providing an environment where your child will not only recover and become responsible, but where they can thrive and develop other skills.