Helpful Information for Parents

For most parents who arrive at the point where they feel that a teen boot camp is the last option, they have reached the end of the line with their ability to work with their Teen and need immediate help. A boot camp for teens seems the only way out of the crisis.

While boot camps for teens can temporarily get your child off of your hands, they most likely will return with the same attitudes and behaviors exhibited prior to attending. Based on military and law enforcement strategies, boot camps have been modified to deal with troubled teens. Unfortunately, studies show that the recidivism rate for boot camp teens involved in criminal acts & substance abuse prior to being sent to a boot camp is extremely high.

If your troubled teen is considering a career in the military, then a teen boot camp could be an opportunity to determine if this will be a good fit for him/her. However, without first learning appropriate behaviors and regaining self-esteem, they may not respond well to the heavy demands that boot camps place on non-individuality. A teen boot camp is about strict discipline and conformity, not individuality. Many studies have shown that treating a troubled teen with a rigid conformity-driven boot camp typically does not produce the desired long-term changes in the teen.

Fortunately, there are other successful approaches besides teen boot camps available. Closely monitored and certified therapeutic boarding schools for troubled teens have proven to be a superior to boot camp for teens. Because of individualized programming, therapy, academic and work projects, a teen in a therapeutic boarding school is in a safe and structured environment with high staff to student ratio, and is monitored in a Òreal lifeÓ environment.

As teen boot camps do not mimic the home, school or community environment, many teens and parents find it a difficult transition back into the family environment. Unlike a teen boot camp, Academic Boarding Schools have proven to produce positive life-long changes in troubled teens, whereas most teen boot camps have not.

Most teens need more than a boot camp, such as therapy; personal growth; interaction with peers and adults in a supportive environment; and most importantly, a healthy belief in themselves and their own potential. Many camps usually donÕt focus on academics, which is critical for teenÕs lifelong success.

Therapeutic boarding schools such as Turning Winds Academic Institute in Montana are designed to work with the teenÕs individuality, while ensuring that the academic & behavioral challenges teens are exhibiting are overcome. This solution is for parents who decide that a teen boot camp does not have the depth of services to needed to successfully restore their troubled teen to a healthy, productive individual.

Turning Winds Academic Institute utilizes specialized programming and behavioral models to reintegrate the teen, including a structured setting that takes advantage of the healing power of the outdoors. Boot camps for teens typically donÕt provide academic and career counseling to encourage teens to further their education. Academic Boarding Schools provide career readiness programs and help teens evaluate college and career options. Teen boot camp outcomes in this area are limited.

Located in the beautiful mountains of Northern Montana, Turning Winds Academic Institute is a proven alternative to boot camps for teens and has an exceptional success rate for teens completing the program. Teens are academically, behaviorally and emotionally restored and reunited with families. Teens return home with a renewed belief in themselves and their potential.