My Quest to Find a Place, the Right Troubled Teen Program for My Son..

The purpose of this web site is to show parents, that it is a good idea that you go and tour all the Residential treatment centers (RTC) or troubled teen programs you are interested in before you actually choose to have your son or daughter attend that Program (RTC). Each Program that I was interested in sending my child to claimed to be the best place for my child. Well how can every place be the best place for my child? They do not even know my child.  Most of the “counselors” I talked to were sales people who had never been to the program they were selling.  I know because I asked.

Like most people I am a very busy parent. But I also am a very dedicated parent and wanted to make sure that I was not sending my child off to just anywhere. Yes my child had strayed away from the path I hoped they would be on, however that does not make me love my child any less.

How many troubled teen programs are there?

My journey to finding the perfect place for my child began with Google and I found out that there are a ton of places that I could send my child to for help. They ranged from a one weekend retreat to a twelve month recovery process. I knew one week would not help my child but 12 months is a long time.

After a few hours on Google I narrowed it down to 20 different Programs in the state of Utah. We live in the Los Angeles, CA area and I wanted to get my child out of this area, but also be close enough that I would be able to travel to visit.

My next step was to read every one of the web sites from beginning to end. After doing that I narrowed my search down to 12 different programs. I realized some of the programs did not fit our needs. I then continued on with my research. I began to call each program and then asked as many questions as they would allow.

Questions you should be asking every troubled teen program:

• Is there a religious affiliation?  (most have some kind of spiritual component akin to the 12-step Higher Power, although some are doctrine oriented.)
• Are you an accredited school?  (some have academics and licensed teachers but credit earned while in the program isn’t accredited or transferable.)
• Do you have a psychiatrist on staff?
• What is your success rate?
• Is your program militaristic or punitive?
• How many Youth do you have in your program?
• Are the Males and Females intermixed?
• Do you accept dangerous students, court adjudicated kids, or any troubled teen with serious issues or disorders?  e.g. will my child be safe around the other kids?
• How many Therapists do you have on staff and how much time do they spend on site and with each student?
• Will I be able to visit my child? If so, how often?
• Can I visit unannounced?
• Can I talk to enrolled students alone or privately when I visit?
• Does your program provide a structured environment?  Is it a lockdown facility?
• What if my child doesn’t want to be there?
• What activities are available for the youth?
• Are your “counselors” really trained/licensed professionals or more like camp counselors/regular staff?

After I had made all my calls and listened to all those talkative sales people I was burnt out. But my husband and I talked and we decided that we would go and tour each of the troubled teen programs. So we called back each facility from our list and set up dates for us to see where all this magic was happening.

We could not believe what happened next. We were blown away by some in good ways and some in not so good ways.

I have composed several different Web Pages, each one devoted to the facilities we toured. I have taken pictures from each programs web site and compared to my own pictures in hopes to get you to take action and see what I have seen.

Final thoughts about choosing a troubled teen program

I strongly encourage you as a parent to invest the time to tour a troubled teen facility before you place your child. For those of you with busy schedules such as myself, but need treatment for your child, I hope this web site will be helpful to you.

-Liz