Wilderness Therapy Programs for Troubled Teens in Pittsburgh, PA
Within the last few decades, America (including Pittsburgh, PA) 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 Pittsburgh, PA 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 Pittsburgh, PA 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 Pittsburgh, PA area
For moms and dads from Pittsburgh, PA 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 Pittsburgh, PA area, including:
- attachment disorders
- attention deficit
- eating disorders
- anxiety, depression
- self-destructive or antisocial behavior behavior
- adoption-related issues
We lead troubled girls from Pittsburgh, PA 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.
Pittsburgh, PA Mental Health Resources for At-risk Adolescents
Elk Mountain Academy is the first choice for Pittsburgh, PA parents investigating a superior therapeutic boarding school to offer assistance to their struggling child experiencing pain medication abuse/addiction, poor academics, or sleep disorder related obstacles. Because working with highly resistant teenage girls is challenging, most programs rely on level systems, punishments, and other behavioral techniques to manage a student’s behavior. Here at EMA, we recognize that the circumstances of one at-risk child doesn’t always apply to all of our students. Because of this, EMA is devoted to the life skills development and experiential education for each teenager, and we do this with professionalism and care.
As a result, EMA is devoted to meeting the particular needs of each girl with the utmost professionalism and compassion. EMA’s therapists and field staff discourage the use of judgments and labels, and never condone one’s diagnosis to interfere with a at-risk girl’s sense of self or ability to form friendships with one another. EMA has provided support to numerous families from all over the nation. Our expert therapists offer superior treatment to set the path of recovery for teenagers at-risk with challenges such as video game addiction (gaming), hypochondriasis, or even poor academics.
Contact EMA today at (208) 266-1122; and allow our intake counselors to answer any questions about our enrollment fees, insurance affiliations, or proximity to Pittsburgh, PA. Make EMA and their therapeutic boarding school a life-changing and memorable experience for both your family and your at-risk child!
Additional Assistance in Pittsburgh, PA
YOUTH.GOV: Youth.gov is a federal website that works to strengthen, maintain and create struggling teenager programs that are effective in directing adolescent girls and young adults. This website contains valuable information on facts, funding data, and tools that can give assistance to people who are investigating information with a local Pittsburgh, PA, or federal teenager partnership. By searching the website, people can learn more about evidence-based girl programs in Pittsburgh, PA; and stay informed with the latest youth-related news. People can find organizations on many topics such as after-school programs, pain medication abuse/addiction prevention, bullying prevention, mental health, gang inclusion prevention, LGBT, and dating violence prevention.