Wilderness Therapy Programs for Troubled Teens in Bellingham, WA
Within the last few decades, America (including Bellingham, WA) has seen the demographic of adolescents deemed, troubled, or out of control, reach epidemic numbers. While experts aren’t sure as to why our nation’s teens increasingly turn to negative behavioral patterns, modern-day issues such as easier access to drugs and the advent of the internet, social media and other screen-based distractions (to name a few) are most likely significant contributing factors.
But with the number of troubled teens rising each year, cities like Bellingham, WA so too is the number of residential treatment centers that advertise their services to parents seeking respite and therapeutic healing for their child.
And, while many of these treatment programs are well-intentioned and run by those who truly believe in their program’s treatment model and core curriculum, parents from Bellingham, WA and elsewhere are all too often duped into sending their teenage daughter to an expensive program that at best, is ineffective in treating their child’s behavioral and emotional issues, and, at worst, exacerbates said issues even further.
Among these detrimental programs are treatment facilities that pose as wilderness therapy programs for troubled teens when in reality, they are more akin to glorified outdoor boot camps.
With the wilderness industry's increasing popularity and recent mainstream exposure, parents sometimes unwittingly send their children to programs that omit the clinical aspects of wilderness therapy.
Though technically a wilderness program, these treatment facilities omit the very foundations that make wilderness therapy effective, and instead, utilize behavioral modification and punishments to enact change within their campers.
For example, instead of providing experiential group therapy, mindfulness-based therapy, and cognitive behavior therapy, like the most reputable, adventure-based programs, these facilities merely seek to exploit the natural environment as a means to 'break' their campers, before 'building' them back up again.
These tactics are not only deceitful and misrepresent genuine wilderness therapy camps, they often aggravate the very issues campers were sent there to correct, to begin with.
Considering the average wilderness program is $500 dollars per day with a $3,000 dollar enrollment fee (not including what it would cost to transport said teen through a transport company two or more times) choosing this route of treatment is quite expensive.
Legitimate and Cost-effective Wilderness Therapy Programs for teens from the Bellingham, WA area
For moms and dads from Bellingham, WA unwilling to pay double (or potentially triple) for a wilderness program for their teenage daughter, there are cost-effective and dynamic treatment options to consider - like that of Elk Mountain Academy.
Elk Mountain Academy is a Christ-centered wilderness therapy program and residential treatment center for troubled teenage girls.
Elk Mountain Academy offers affordable, expert treatment for life-controlling issues and disorders in girls from the Bellingham, WA area, including:
- attachment disorders
- attention deficit
- eating disorders
- anxiety, depression
- self-destructive or antisocial behavior behavior
- adoption-related issues
We lead troubled girls from Bellingham, WA to seek truth and to trust in the Holy Spirit, our Holy Comforter who was given to all believers in Christ. At EMA we coach and train our students to seek, trust, and rely on the Holy Spirit, who is their comforter.
For more information regarding our treatment program, please call us today at (208) 266-1122.
Mental Health Guidance in Bellingham, WA for At-risk Teens
Elk Mountain Academy is the trusted choice for parents from Bellingham, WA who may be wanting the optimal therapeutic boarding school to give guidance for their struggling child who may be coping with antisocial behavior, drug abuse/addiction (including marijuana), or kleptomania related issues. Here at Elk Mountain, parents and families from Bellingham, WA can expect only the best results from our compassionate and professional counselors. Our research-validated approach to a variety of relevant residential treatment strategies (equine, life training, behavioral therapy) and outdoor recreation and adventure therapy has proven to deliver tremendous success!
Elk Mountain’s counselors and field staff discourage judgments and labels, and never allow a diagnosis to interfere with what struggling adolescents have in common with each other - their humanity. We have provided help to numerous families from all over the nation, including those from Bellingham, WA; Our trained counselors give a variety of relevant residential treatment strategies (equine, life training, behavioral therapy); helping students toward the path of transformation for adolescents coping with substance use (including marijuana), anxiety, or rebelliousness related issues.
In short, Elk Mountain knows how to support struggling teenagers with lasting transformation; and how to forge a new path for proper guidance and purpose in life. We are considered a leading therapeutic boarding school, where we provide a variety of relevant residential treatment strategies (equine, life training, behavioral therapy) and outdoor recreation and adventure therapy that leads to a healthy, balanced life. If you are ready to take advantage of the leading therapeutic boarding school that Elk Mountain can give, we encourage you to contact our consultants; to begin the lasting change in your child’s life. We give help to at-risk adolescents from Bellingham, WA. Call us at (208) 266-1122 to speak with one of our knowledgeable consultants today!
Additional Guidance in Bellingham, WA
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS (AA): Providing a global institution for anyone who has issues with alcohol, Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) operates in Bellingham, WA, and across the globe. The authority is based on the principles set out in the twelve step program described in the iconic Alcoholics Anonymous book, published in the late 1930s. AA is self-financing and has no political, religious or racial bias. It is open to all who have drinking issues that they want to address. Over the past few decades, AA has been counseling millions of at-risk teenagers and young women nationally, internationally, and in Bellingham, WA; to maintain a sober lifestyle.