Wilderness Therapy Programs for Troubled Teens in Wilkes-Barre, PA
Within the last few decades, America (including Wilkes-Barre, 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 Wilkes-Barre, 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 Wilkes-Barre, 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 Wilkes-Barre, PA area
For moms and dads from Wilkes-Barre, 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 Wilkes-Barre, 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 Wilkes-Barre, 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.
Guidance for Parents of Struggling Teens in Wilkes-Barre, PA
Elk Mountain Academy is the first choice for Wilkes-Barre, PA parents wanting a leading therapeutic boarding school to give guidance to their struggling child undergoing drug abuse/addiction (including marijuana), kleptomania, or clinical depression related problems. Because working with highly resistant teenagers is challenging, most programs rely on level systems, punishments, and other behavioral techniques to manage a young student’s behavior. Here at Elk Mountain, we recognize that the circumstances of one at-risk child doesn’t always apply to all of our young students. Because of this, Elk Mountain is dedicated to the life skills development and experiential education for each girl, and we do this with professionalism and care.
It’s our absolute respect for every young student (and family) that we work with that sets our therapeutic boarding school apart from the others. Elk Mountain’s counselors acknowledge and appreciate the common issues that adolescents from Wilkes-Barre, PA are faced with every day. With decades of collective experience in the residential treatment center industry, our counselors can quickly identify and help technology addiction (cell phone, social media) problems, issues related to antisocial behavior, and the causes for rebelliousness.
Because we specialize in a variety of relevant residential treatment strategies (equine, life training, behavioral therapy) and provide outdoor recreation and adventure therapy, struggling adolescents can grow to be healthy adults, and Elk Mountain’s young students can emerge as strong people who are motivated to succeed. Elk Mountain recognizes that the entire family needs the help that our trained counselors give; so that your child can be rehabilitated and whole. Elk Mountain’s consultants can be reached immediately at (208) 266-1122.
Further Help in Wilkes-Barre, PA
NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR BEHAVIORAL HEALTH (NCBH): The National Council works to ensure those in Wilkes-Barre, PA with mental health and substance use (including marijuana) problems, can have fair access to medical care in all forms. They give extensive education opportunities for the public and healthcare workers and provide consulting resources to ensure all mental health and substance use (including marijuana) services for troubled teenagers and young women in Wilkes-Barre, PA. The National Council works to protect the most vulnerable citizens that include over 8 million adults and children who are living with mental illness and drug abuse/addiction (including marijuana) disorders.