Boarding Schools for Troubled Teens
This is a complicated issue. There are three major categories of “schools,” more appropriately, “programs,” the term we will use. Within each category there is a spectrum of service. Within each spectrum there is a variety of characteristics and personalities. In some instances a program is selected for a particular young person because a specific individual therapist.

Categories of Programs

Wilderness

A Wilderness Program is where many young people start. It is boarding. Students leave home and stay the wilderness program; usually in tents. The purpose of the wilderness program or experience is multifold. It removes the young person from the environment in which he or she has had trouble. The new environment, the wilderness, is neutral; neither hostile nor accommodating. The old environment is not an option; it is tens or thousands of miles away. New behavior patterns are required. It is a time of settling, lasting 4 to 12 weeks. It is a safe time of quiet routine and reflection; a transition time between home and trouble and a next step offering therapeutic help.

Therapeutic Boarding School (TBS)

All three words are important; Therapy. A place to live. A place to learn. A TBS is typically for a young person with “less serious” problems. “Less serious” might be defined by type and/or severity. Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) is a serious concern, but usually not life threatening and could be treated in a TBS. Young people exhibiting certain violent behaviors would not be treated in a TBS. “Drug problems” might be addressed, but not serious addictions. Residents of a TBS live on campus in a variety of housing types. School is the job of an adolescent. The academics at a TBS will be accredited curriculums taught by certified teachers and can lead to a full high school diploma. Length of stay varies; often in the 9 month to 24 month range

Residential Treatment Center (RTC)

The RTC is for young people with “more serious“ problems. Young people who are very defiant in home, school or community; suffer from deep depression, bi-polar condition, anxiety issues which significantly affect daily living are personal characteristics which lead to placement in an RTC. RTCs are much more secure and structured than the TBS. Medications might be more of a factor. Close staff supervision, and intense individual therapy are common. It is not unusual for a young person to complete an RTC program and then move to a TBS (a step down) to complete therapy. Like the TBS the RTC will provide accredited academics.

Wilderness, TBS and RTC have rolling enrollment, taking students at any time during the year. Some TBS and RTC will not take a young person without a wilderness experience. All programs rely heavily on parent participation. They intend to treat the family.

Spectrum of Service

Each program within a category has its own personality and specialty. A program might be one year old or 100 years old, large (120 participants) or small (8 participants), rural or central city, emphasize intense clinical care or a more relaxed almost recreational environment with lighter therapy. Duration of treatment might be six weeks to two year plus. There might be a strong religious component or none at all. The level of academic rigor can vary widely depending on the mission of the program (whether or not the academic component is rigorous, it will be high quality).

Characteristics and Personalities

Many programs are stand alone operations started by people who have a heart to help young people. Others might be part of a small group of three or four locations. And still others part of a corporate entity with multiple programs of all three categories located throughout the country. Some are outside the U. S. As a result programs often reflect the personality and passion of the founders or current operators. Programs in Maine have a different “feel” than programs in Utah or Idaho. Therapists have different personal backgrounds, experience and training. Three different programs might be appropriate for a young person for basic reasons but be different in subtle ways – thus, as we began, there are spectrums within spectrums.

Sorting it all out

This is a complicated issue, but it can be simplified. Independent Educational Consultants take on the task of understanding the subtle differences between programs. They can only do this by travelling thousands of miles visiting scores of programs every year; seeing facilities, meeting with administrators, therapists and teachers, talking with young people, eating their food, at least seeing if not sleeping in their beds. It’s a daunting task, but it is the only way to understand therapeutic programs in a way that is meaningful in placing a young person in trouble.