Different Kinds of Programs for Troubled Teens

Searching through the different types and kinds of available programs for troubled teens can often be confusing. There are a variety of different kinds of treatment programs for troubled teens available. Different kinds of programs for troubled teens include therapeutic boarding schools, residential treatment centers, wilderness therapy programs, and military schools/teen boot camps.

How do Most Programs for Troubled Teens Work?

Most programs for troubled teens are designed to help teens recognize poor patterns of behavior, as well as the issues that underlay those behaviors. Once teens recognize that their behavior is unacceptable and identify some of the whys behind their behavior the goal of treatment is to help them create new healthier patterns of behavior.

How this is achieved varies from one treatment program to another. Many programs for troubled teens establish a system of structure and achievement. Counseling and therapy are also provided within this structure. Teens complying with rules and voluntarily working through their own individual issues advance from one step to another. Some programs for troubled teens call these steps levels. Teens are also held accountable, either by staff or other students, for their actions (or lapse of progression) and may receive consequences such as loss of privileges or loss of steps/levels or both. Most teens make two steps forward one step back type progress through their treatment as they learn to use the tools they�ll need in order to be more emotionally healthy.

Characteristics of Quality Programs for Troubled Teens

While it is most likely that there are a number of programs for troubled teens who would be successful in your situation, here are a couple of pointers to help you find a quality program for your troubled teen. Check the licensing history of the program you�re interested in. It should be available from the state in which the program is licensed. If the program is not licensed this is your first clue that you should look somewhere else. A good program may either have a clean record or one with very few blemishes. What you don�t want is a program for your troubled teen with a pattern of violations.

Tour the programs you�re considering, are they clean and organized? Is the staff happy and excited about what they are doing? Most staff members do what they do for the love of it, the money is not usually that great. Talk to other parents of participants in the program try to learn about both positive and negative experiences that they�ve had. Search the Internet for both good and bad information about the program. Remember to take what you read with a large grain of salt� every business has proponents and opponents and the program you�re interested in is no exception. If you have concerns bring them up with an admissions counselor, or an administrative officer. This is a big decision do enough homework that you can be super committed to your final choice.