Why Residential Treatment Works When Home Therapy Fails?

Why does residential treatment work when home therapy fails? Many parents are curious why a residential treatment can help their troubled teen when home therapy has failed.

Outpatient treatment was unsuccessful, the school setting is not working, and a short-term hospital stay was unsuccessful — yet a residential treatment (outside of your teen’s comfort area) can work!

Why? Because it’s specifically set-up to stop the downward spiral of a teen’s behavior and change the course to an upward one.

Has your teen become out-of-control? Destructive in the home (especially if you try to remove their phone)? Have you exhausted your local resources and now they are refusing to attend therapy?

Does any of this teen behavior sound familiar:

Defiance, anger, rage
Entitlement, breaking curfew, sneaking out
Disrespectful, attitude, breaking family rules
Substance use, drinking, vaping
Internet, smartphone, or gaming addiction
Self-harm, suicide ideation
Running away, stealing, legal issues
Posting inappropriate content online
School refusal (smart, but failing)

If so, you are not alone!

When a teen is removed from the stressors and triggers of home – not to mention their peer influences and devices (social media) – with a slowed down manageable pace – and placed into an environment with staff, activities (enrichment programs) and therapy designed to encourage change – (build self-worth) – the opportunity for the kind of true and deep change required to turn your teen’s life around can finally start to happen.

A consistent and positive environment replaces the toxic environment they are leaving. They will not have access to drugs or alcohol – or their social media or devices. The peer influences are now cut-off. If they’ve been struggling academically, often this new and unique environment is where they will begin to thrive again.

If there was family discord, the destructive cycles with siblings and/or parents are now stopped and communication is deliberately slowed down to include mediated conversations, letter exchanges, and intermittent visits.

This completely changes the dynamic and stops parents and teens from engaging in the same ineffective communication patterns used before. It is as if a pause button is pushed, and teens eventually are able to move away from their rigid perspectives and look at their relationships from a new and clear vantage point.

They begin to gain perspective on life events that may have created trauma, or on their contribution to the “mess” their lives have become. They learn about their own unique emotional and cognitive make up and their problems or limitations as a starting point for the journey forward.

What can a quality therapeutic setting will offer your teen?

A well-designed residential treatment program (therapeutic boarding school) accelerates the environment to enhance the likelihood and speed of change. The foundation of such environments is the creation of a safe, relationally warm place where the teen is protected from self-destructive behavior, unburdened from the “overwhelm” of life, and immersed in relational climate that invites introspection.

Such places enable young people to look at their choices, their personal limitations, and the outcomes of the strategies they are using, and to recognize their own contributions to their problems and unhappiness. From a basic, high-level vantage point, effective treatment programs share common elements:

A full and balanced daily life structure and schedule.
Clinical support through individual and group therapy.
Constant exposure to positive role models and coaching from staff.
A positive peer culture in which teens who have progressed influence other teens in positive ways.
Clear and constant expectations and rules.
Experiential and recreational activities.
Methods for defining and recognizing progress.
Academic programming and support.
Parent education and involvement in the treatment process.