Struggling Teens and a Compass for Living

July 9, 2009

Image via Wikipedia

Spiritual progress, not spiritual perfection, is a fundamental goal of recovery.  Progress needs a goal for its movement.  To that end, the four absolutes as developed by the Oxford Group, honesty, purity, unselfishness and love, provide a guide for struggling teens seeking to grow along spiritual lines.
These principles, which align with the spiritual [...]

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Renewal of School Spirit

July 8, 2009

Over the last two days we have renamed the family units at the Family Foundation School, a therapeutic boarding school in Hancock, NY.  Each residential unit now has a house name derived from a hero of recovery.  The change was ushered in with group competitions that encouraged participation and enthusiasm.
What was fascinating from the [...]

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Talking with Struggling Teens about Sex and Drugs

July 3, 2009

Image by Kassel via Flickr

The book How to talk so teens will listen & listen so teens will talk has been passing through our office.  It presents some good advice about approaching the difficult subjects of sex and drugs with teens.  The simple take away: instead of one big talk, break the discussion up over [...]

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An animal friendly place

July 2, 2009

Image by George Eastman House via Flickr

Dogs abound on our campus.  And so do reptiles if you take a walk up to the woodcarving studio and visit the cold-blooded menagerie.  And there’s a reason.  As a therapeutic boarding school, the relationships of our students to the many animals they interact with provide many opportunities for [...]

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A committment to best practices

July 1, 2009

As therapeutic boarding schools, wilderness programs and residential programs for struggling teens have grown and matured over the past thirty years, they have worked diligently to share best practices and to define quality safety and care standards.  Inviting outside accreditation organizations like the Joint Commission along with the efforts of our peer organizations across the [...]

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Common Symptoms of Teen Depression

June 29, 2009

Many times the challenges we see in struggling teens are complex, with a mixture of behavioral, developmental and psychological realities pulli8ng in opposite directions.  Often depression is an underlying reality.  As this resource on teenage depression points out, common symptoms of teen depression include:

has trouble making/keeping friends
declining grades/truancy
loss of interest in normally [...]

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So many options, so many questions

June 27, 2009

Image by dragon762w via Flickr

When you are searching for high schools for troubled teens, there are many questions that can help uncover the information that will help make the best choice for your child.  Jeff Brain has just published a guide to help parents make an informed decision.  Within this resource Jeff develops dozens of [...]

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Ripples

June 26, 2009

Image by itchys via Flickr

In the midst of our busy season, there’s some new content emerging on our partner blogs that deserves mention.
Jeff has developed an interesting resource for parent, providing a well thought out checklist of questions to assist parents visiting residential placement options for their struggling teens.
Sid continues to develop his ideas around [...]

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Angry teens need a healthy way out

June 25, 2009

Image by stage88 via Flickr

Over the past three days I heard some startling stories of frustration that erupted into violence.  A microwave oven that was thrown out of a third floor window.  A car driven in reverse at full throttle until hitting a parked car.  A sibling pushed through  glass door.
Some of the angry teens [...]

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Learning Differences

June 24, 2009

Traveling around Capitol Hill yesterday to lend support for the efforts of the Senate to bring appropriate federal regulation and oversight to the residential placement of teens and children, I listened to an interesting conversation unfold.
It detailed the difficulties of a parent whose son was labeled learning disabled at an early age.  A decade of [...]

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