A Residential Treatment Center or Therapeutic Boarding Schools: which is better?

Bad behavior does not make a bad person

At a residential treatment center, therapeutic boarding school or at home in his own bed, he looks so peaceful when he is asleep.  How can someone so peaceful wreak so much havoc when he's awake?  When will he grow out of it?  How long is he going to remain in such a horrible mood?  How can someone who looks so normal when he's asleep be so bad when he's awake? 

First, a parent must separate his or her son as a person from his behavior.  It is the behavior that is bad, and the longer it goes on, the more ingrained the unacceptable behavior becomes.  Unlike a residential treatment center, a therapeutic boarding school such as Arivaca Boys Ranch can help.  In fact, in many cases such a change is going to be the only thing that will help.

Therapeutic boarding schools—the definition of Arivaca Boys Ranch

The therapeutic boarding school at Arivaca Boys Ranch takes a multi-pronged approach to correcting the behavioral problems that can occur with teenage boys.  Instead of a residential treatment center, a therapeutic boarding school is a place where adolescent boys can be placed when the home has stopped being a healthy environment for growth and change.  Through no particular fault of the parents, teenage boys sometimes lose the ability to continue positive development. 

Some adolescent conditions prevent you from dealing effectively with bad behavior

There are many reasons for this and only a skilled physician or psycho-therapist can tell the difference.  Among the conditions that often resist treatment such as Oppositional Defiance Disorder (ODD), Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), depression, excessive anxiety, guilt, and lack of self-esteem or self-control.  A fully accredited high school is located at Arivaca Boys Ranch and the term of stay is optimally an entire school year.  That helps recover lost academic time while issues have been distracting.  Often these conditions overlap and very often they mimic each other.  Matching the right condition with the right therapy is often difficult, yet it is important.

Equine Therapy works, and works well

Unique among residential treatment centers is equine therapy.  Equine therapy uses the care and training of horses as a behavior modification technique.  Those familiar with horses know that the care and friendship of horses can affect behavior dramatically. 

Learning to overcome something that is bigger than you are

Because of the size and power of a horse, getting a horse to do what you want builds confidence.  Boys soon learn that getting mad at a horse, trying to manipulate its thinking, or trying to force a horse to do something through threats is ineffective.  Those learned behaviors may have worked at home, but will not work elsewhere and especially with a horse.

Individual and Group Counseling supports behavior correction

Every teen boy receives one private counseling session each week with a licensed professional therapist.  The goal of the sessions is to help his daily experiences and achievements become incorporated into his thinking and behavior.  This is an essential part of connecting what is learned through equine therapy with real life interpersonal realities.

Also, each week, every young man will join his residential family for group sessions lead by licensed counselors.  The focus here is on developing better interpersonal communication skills and negotiating skills that will help cement better anger control and coping skills, relationships, understanding and cooperation.  The combination has a great calming effect and significantly reduces the frustration level.

Residential Families and the Arbinger Principles

Each family group of six boys is led by a resident wrangler trained in the Arbinger Principles.  This leadership helps boys better understand the basic principles of his life.  They meet each evening for reflection and review of the day's events and that includes recording those growth experiences in a journal for later review.

The Arbinger Principles are seven points of learning that correct self-deception and promotes non-violent resolution to issues and problems.  They are used to re-set frustration and anger levels and provide a greater awareness of "self". 

What's in it for you?

Arivaca Boys Ranch supplies the level of effective treatment that you require in a residential treatment center.  The goal is to get your son back, whole.  Your son is not a bad person simply because he has bad behavior.  Learn to separate the two.  When the behavior is corrected, the son you thought you had will return.  Your entire family will be in for a new, positive experience and closeness probably not seen for a long time.

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