Residential Treatment Centers for Troubled Teens (Boys and Girls)

Abundant Life Academy is thought to be a Christian Residential Treatment Center for adolescents by parents seeking help for their troubled teen.  Most parents seeking professional help for their troubled teens are not familiar with the appropriate "definitions" or "types" of residential programs for troubled boys and troubled girls.  For example, many parents do not realize that Residential Treatment Centers are available to adults as well as adolescents.  Obviously, the parents of troubled boys and troubled girls want only to be made aware of the available adolescent programs. To most laymen the term "Residential Treatment Center" is a generic term that includes residential boarding school programs for troubled teens, both troubled boys and troubled girls. Although Abundant Life Academy is not licensed as a Residential Treatment Center per se, we certainly fit the common laymen's definition of the RTC.  To most parents unfamiliar with official terms Abundant Life Academy is a residential treatment center for adolescents, or more specifically, a "therapeutic boarding school".  This laymen's definition is shared by most parents.  Therefore, instead of getting into the nitty-gritty of definitions, one would honestly say that Abundant Life Academy, a Christian Residential Treatment Center for troubled boys and troubled girls, is an early intervention program for troubled teens who are not functioning well at home, and need more therapeutic help than most adolescents their age.

To help parents in crisis to better understand their options it may be easier to define what an adolescent residential treatment center "is not".  A Christian Residential Treatment Center for adolescents is not a traditional boarding school setting where you find dorm rooms, cafeteria, sports fields, a gym, and academic instruction. Residential Treatment Centers for adolescents are not where parents send a troubled boy or troubled girl to be disciplined for something he or she has done wrong. A Residential Treatment Center for adolescents is a generic term that describes a program that normally provides a higher level of professional psychological and psychiatric support to the struggling teenager.  In an RTC you would normally find troubled teenagers who are dealing with acute mood disorders, moderate personality disorders, and other mental health issues that would require more therapeutic intervention and oversight. However, the traditional, or "common" definition of the Residential Treatment Center is the typical boarding schoool for troubled boys and girls.  In reality, nothing could be further from the truth.  It is extremely critical that parents seeking professional residential support for their troubled child know the difference between the RTC and the other less restrictive intervention programs.

Abundant Life Academy is the alternative to the Residential Treatment Centers for troubled teens; we are a Christ-centered boarding school for troubled teens that is here to help your rebellious child, the child that has a good heart, and  potential to be a great student and strong leader. Yet, the struggling child is currently off track, lost, and wandering down a road that leads to destruction.  As a parent you are greatly concerned and realize that without an out of home intervention, such as enrollment into Abundant Life Academy, the consequences upon your child's future could be grave. 

A residential treatment center, like Abundant Life Academy, is a place that takes a multi-faceted approach to the multitude of problems displayed by the acting out teen.  These problems extend beyond the classroom and into a child's daily life with his or her family, peers, and the rest of the world. Residential Treatment Centers are most likely more than what parents are looking for or needing, so this is serious stuff and the decision to place your child in an RTC should never be made lightly. Considering any kind of boarding school should not be made without knowledge and understanding of the differences betweene the types of programs available. It will change your child's future. ALA is the residential boarding school that is uniquely designed to help the troubled teen boy or girl to be restored academically, behaviorally, and with all hope, spiritually.  Abundant Life Academy is not a psychiatric program where the intensity of the psychological issues plaguing the students are the highest priortiy.  At Abundant Life Academy, emotional maturity, leadership development, spiritual growth, and academic success is our focus.

Residential Treatment Centers are the last resort options for parents of troubled teens

Residential treatment should, in many cases, be considered the last alternative for troubled children with normal immaturity problems. It should be considered only after less intense interventions have either been tried or ruled out. Anytime a family can address the child's needs through less expensive and intrusive means, they should.  Residential Treatment Centers are the last choice for families who's children are in need of serious psychological intervention.