Troubled Teen Options




Teen Intervention

Teen intervention may be necessary if you are struggling with an out of control teen. It will be important to have a plan in place prior to beginning your teen intervention. Most teen’s are immature and obviously don’t understand the gravity of the life course they are taking. An intervention may be the only way to disrupt the destructive course they are on. There are several types and levels of teen interventions you can use. We will break down the options you can explore when you come to the realization that you need to take action.

Teen Intervention Confrontation

In some cases a teen intervention could consist of confronting your child. You will need to let them know that you are aware of what they are doing, and who they are doing it with. You will have to do some research to find out who their friends are and if possible where they are obtaining the drugs they are using. It would also be good to discover the location of their drug abuse happens. For example if one of your teen’s negative friends has a home that is loosely supervised, this may be the place they go to get high. You will have to take some time yourself or hire some to follow your teen to gather as much information as possible. An important factor in the confrontation type teen intervention is the facts.

The Expense of Troubled Teen Programs

If the teen agrees with you after you confront them with the facts about what they have been doing, and realizes that they need some help you can explore counseling options. Your family Dr. can probably recommend a good teen counselor. The counselor that specializes in working with teens will be more likely to make progress than a counselor that works with adults. Teens can be manipulative, and if a counselor doesn’t understand teens he or she may lose their objectivity. The main key to the success of this teen intervention option is the willingness of the teen to receive help. If the teen does not want to, or is unwilling to make changes, you may be forced to the next level of teen intervention.

Teen Intervention Placement Options

If all attempts fail trying to keep your teen at home receiving the help they need you may have to take it to the next level. Your teen intervention may need to explore placement options outside of the home. This is the most drastic method a parent can opt for. It is a very difficult decision that will have to be well thought out and researched extensively. If you decide that the best teen intervention for your teen is placement outside of the home, here are some choices you will need to consider.
Troubled Teen Boarding Schools

Military Schools

Residential Treatment Centers

Boy Boarding Schools

Girl Boarding Schools

Co-Ed Boarding Schools

Specialty Schools

Each of these options has positive and negative factors associated with them. We will try to break the choices down to make it easier for you to determine which may be best for you.

Teen Intervention Boarding Schools

Troubled teen boarding school can be a very effective form of teen intervention for your child. The majority of the schools work on behavior modification or positive peer style training. The most effective way to reach a youth is through another youth. If an adult tells a teen he or she is acting immaturely they dismiss the criticism ad invalid. If a teen tells another teen he or she is acting immaturely the teen will listen much more closely. Peer intervention is very effective at changing the negative behaviors of a teen.

Teen Intervention Placement Options

Most military schools would not be an effective option for a teen intervention. The biggest reason is that most military schools only accept teens that are willing to be there.

Teen Intervention Residential Treatment Centers

A residential treatment center is a good option if the teen needing intervention has a serious addiction to a dangerous drug that would require some type of detoxification process. This is usually not the case with the majority of troubled teens. Most of them are heading in a direction that would require this type of intervention, but are not there yet. A residential treatment center is much more clinical than a boarding school for troubled teens. There will be Dr.’s and nurses on staff and the cost of and RTC is usually very high. If you have a good insurance policy you may find some help there. Most insurance companies have dropped or diminished these benefits.

Teen Intervention Specialty Boarding Schools

Specialty boarding schools are basically the same choice as regular boarding schools explained above. It is important to explain the difference between what used to be a boarding school and what a boarding school is today. Boarding schools have been around for a long time. It used to be that wealthy people sent their children away to boarding school to receive a better education and learn to behave properly. There are still these types of schools around. When we speak of boarding schools as a form of teen intervention we are referring to the newer version boarding school. The troubled teen boarding schools are also known as specialty boarding schools. Included in many of these options are drug rehab programs.