What Type Of Treatement Centers Are Availiable?

Typically there are two primary types of treatment centers that troubled teens find themselves enrolled into. The first is a Drug Treatment Center sometimes referred to as a Crisis Hospital. These are for teens that have very significant and substantial drug abuse problems such as being addicted to hard drugs such as heroine, cocaine, LSD, etc or someone that has recently had a near overdose, or for a troubled teen recently having an emotional trauma such as an attempted suicide. These are specialty treatment centers designed to de-escalate a teen in a very bad situation. These are staffed primarily by nurses, psychologist, psychiatrist and medical doctors. Costs for this type of acute treatment center can easily run up to $1,000 a day. Fortunately many insurance companies assist in this cost. Unfortunately the typical enrolment time is anywhere from 3 days to 3 weeks. These treatment centers are designed more for crisis control and these type of treatment centers although for their purposes can be a godsend are unable to greatly influence what happens after a teen is released.


The Second Type of Treatment Center is usually called a Residential Treatment Center. Residential Treatment Centers are usually long-term i.e. a year or longer and would be similar to a specialty boarding school with an emphasis on professional counseling with a treatment plan and assistance from a licensed therapist. These programs are designed to help teens deal with their underlying emotional problems and help them build character and self-esteem.  Group and individual therapy are usually performed weekly.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A RESIDENTIAL BOARDING SCHOOL AND A RESIDENTIAL TREATMENT CENTER?

Depending on the treatment center and boarding school there is a difference in regards to psychological counseling and group therapy. Whereas the one a specialty boarding school may make third party professional counseling available residential treatment centers usually have that built into the program. It could be said that residential treatment centers are designed to deal with those teens that need a more clinical approach to their growth and development. Specialty boarding schools have criteria that make their enrolment a little more difficult than most residential treatment centers. It would be wise to talk to an admissions coordinator to help you in accessing which type of school could best fulfill your needs.