Therapeutic boarding schools are but one of the many options for providing services to struggling teens. There are community services, residential treatment centers, wilderness programs, and a variety of hybrids. Discerning which placement would best suit the needs of a student can be a difficult and wearisome task.
At the Family Foundation School, we realize that our option is not necessarily the best one for any given student and to that end we advise parents to consider as many resources as possible when trying to discern an appropriate placement for their child. Often this process can be aided by the expertise of an independent third party, such as an educational consultant. We also encourage parents to do research on the field, remembering that especially with the web, each piece of information needs to be considered in relationship to a broader whole.
Even when the decision has been made to seek placement in a therapuetic boarding school, how do you decide from amongst the options? Recently Jeff Brain created a guide to help provide parents with an assessment strategy when considering placement at therapuetic boarding schools. The questions within will allow parents to gather the scope of information needed to make an informed choice.
There are many pressures on organizations like ours that focus on serving struggling teens. Cultivating a therapeutic milieu takes constant attention. Attempting to close the academic gap for students like ours who often often arrive at therapeutic boarding schools behind in their studies demands a team approach that incorporates feedback from the students, the parents, the previous placement and our staff. And it’s always essential to keep our organization in a transformative mode so that it can continue to grow as best practices change.
All the tasks that face us demand good communication. Even during these difficult economic times, as a leadership team we spend a large percentage of out efforts focusing on the demands of communication. And the challenge comes in many forms. Internal memos, external releases, crafting attentive responses for the wide range of constituencies that we are in dialogue with; helping our staff to have the consistent messaging; facilitating communication between our students and their families of origin.
It’s important to remember the factors that enhance the quality of communication. This includes appropriate knowledge of the subject under consideration, showing patience, an even temperament, and active listening. Giving attention to both verbal and nonverbal cues while showing courtesy, demonstrating understanding, and nonjudgmental attitudes are musts. And where these aspects are missing, regardless if it’s with student, staff, parent or community member, helping others to join into these demands to ensure clarity of communication lines needs to remain a top priority.
Tagged as:
Best practice,
Communication
