Therapeutic Boarding Schools - Boarding Schools for Troubled Teens

Parents who want their troubled children to receive education and therapy at the same facility often seek therapeutic boarding schools. This is a place that set up to provide an environment for positive emotional growth, with an emphasis on behavior modification. The goal of the residential therapeutic school is to help troubled teens begin living a more fulfilling and less self-destructive lifestyle.

Teenagers who are troubled are often confused and frightened. The defiance, anger, and rebelliousness reflect their confusion and fear. The first step in saving a child from a self-destructive path of academic failure, dangerous drug and alcohol experimentation, and even brushes with police is to realize you need professional help, and therapeutic boarding schools can be a good choice for you and for your child.

Therapeutic boarding schools provide regularly scheduled mental health and, when necessary, substance abuse counseling and treatment. They may also include periodic family therapy sessions. Unlike residential centers, therapeutic schools provide a strong educational program to assist students with a history of poor academic performance, a lack of motivation, and who experience self-esteem issues.

Students admitted to therapeutic boarding schools typically have a diagnosis of a mental health problem, including depression, bipolar disorder, dysthymia, ADHD, opposiotional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, substance abuse or dependence, or an eating disorder.

Therapeutic schools vary in their operations and focus. Most of these schools are credentialed to grant a high school diploma or at least provide credits for transfer. The average stay is usually a full school year. Scientific outcome studies of these schools indicate that most students maintain or continue to improve on a long-term basis after they leave their programs. Before selecting a school, check out the schools accreditations, and the credentials of the staff. If you are unsure about what accreditations the school should have, check with the state education department in the state where the school is located.