Boarding Schools for Troubled Teens – Myth of Location

Boarding Schools for Troubled Teens Location Myths – I’m looking for a school close to home!

By Craig Rogers, CE0 and Co-founder of Abundant Life Academy… a premier Christian boarding school for troubled teens

The troubled teen boarding schools myth of finding a location near mom and dad is a major blunder for many parents of troubled teens.  As a professional in this field for 20 years I want to say the last thing a parent wants to consider is location of the boarding school. For too many parents finding a boarding school near the teen’s home is the most important factor.  The truth is that it is NOT important when considering the overall factors that are absolute when making a final decision about troubled teen boarding schools. When it comes to the successful restoration of the troubled teen the boarding school location has little to no bearing on the outcome, good or bad.

The first factor of importance is the student profile of the therapeutic boarding school, detailing the exact nature of the student (troubled teen) the school works with.  Secondly, the next factor in choosing the right troubled teen boarding school is the description of the therapeutic program, which should be a description of the manner of which the boarding school plans to bring about a solution to the teen’s presenting issues.  In essence, when the troubled teen boarding school has defined the type of student, thus defining the issues of the student, and then presents the exact theory, approach, or method of solving the teens issues, the parents will have confidence that they picked the right school.

Abundant Life Academy, a Therapeutic Boarding School for Troubled Teens, is in Southern Utah.  We are 7 hours from Southern California, 6 hours from Phoenix, 10 hours from Denver, and 12 hours from San Francisco.  Most of our students are from California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Michigan, and Wisconsin.  Obviously, due to the fact that Abundant Life Academy has students from all over the country our parents choose to go with the program that best fits their child’s needs.

Over the last two decades I have spent vast amount of time with parents of troubled teens who are considering placing their child into a therapeutic boarding school (Abundant Life Academy). There are several myths that always seems to come up, and they come up so often that I could count on having to address them somewhere along the admissions process.  One of the most predominate myths was directly related to the location of the therapeutic boarding school.  Parents, especially mothers, insisted that the school or program would have to be near their home, “we need Johnny (or Susie) close to home…”  The truth is the last thing a parent wants to consider, when evaluating a boarding school or program, is the location.  Seriously!

Over the last 20 years most of my time was spent dealing with parents of troubled teens in emotional crisis, which are deeply hurt, and in turmoil.  My main job when working with parents of troubled teens is to support them, listen, provide hope, and otherwise minister to them.  I always assure the parents of troubled teens that they are not alone, they are not failures, and this could be the best thing that ever happened.  I tell them that they are only days away from relief, peace, an assurance that their child will be okay and that he or she will be restored.

The reason parents want little Johnny or Susie close to home is obvious, but it varies.  Most of the time it is for the comfort of the parent or parents.  To send your child, troubled or not, away to a boarding school is scary and parents often feel guilty, feel like failures, and the sense of doom (about sending their precious child away) is huge.  The discomfort that the parent feels is the wedge that causes the parent to negotiate.  They attempt to justify the enrollment by negotiating with their own feelings and emotions.  It’s not as bad if they can say, “we will come every weekend to visit you…” Parents from the East Coast will call and say, “You are in Utah?  Oh, that’s too far away, I am not interested….”  These parents put the location of the boarding schools for troubled teens as the highest priority, regardless of the value of the school in general.

If a parent uses “location” within the top 10 factors of evaluating and boarding school for troubled teens then they have done themselves, and their child, a disfavor.  The location has almost no effect on the outcome of the program, except when the location is close.  Many troubled teens run away from the boarding school that is close to home.  The runaway is extremely serious, and most students get booted out of the school after an attempted run.  A parent may invest tens of thousands of dollars into a school nearby their home only to find their runaway son or daughter dispelled, and looking for a new school or program, without a refund and having to start all over again.  This scenario plays out more often than not.

So, the truth is that being “close to home” is only a detriment, and being close has no bearing on achieving a positive outcome.  At least not when compared to so many other more important factors.  For example, when it comes to troubled teens (especially troubled girls) if the school is co-ed there is less of a chance of success.  Choosing a co-ed school for troubled teens is like mixing gasoline with a book of lit matches. So, if a parent bends their preference and allows their daughter to go to a co-ed school because “its close to home” there is a high likelihood that it will be a disaster.  Moreover, if the child has learning disorders he/she needs to have access to special educational support.  If a child is very emotionally immature the best school or program will have a strong emotional growth program.  At Abundant Life Academy we teach our students the skills of accountability and responsibility.  We teach these skills everyday, through our emotional intelligence program.  Obviously, our students are gifted, smart, with great potential but they are entitled, spoiled, emotionally immature, and don’t do well socially (hanging out with the wrong crowd, addicted to “acceptance”, and does not handle rejection well… easily influenced in negative ways).

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