Reply to Therapeutic Wilderness Schools

Forum Index » Kids With Special Needs and Disabilities

Reply to "Therapeutic Wilderness Schools - Any Insights?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The boarding school was Montana Academy, sort of the gold standard in the industry. It’s a non-profit but costs a fortune. We hired a separate form to handle all health insurance reimbursements for us for a reasonable fee. Montana has passed legislation in the last couple of years strengthening oversight over the industry, but still there are some really awful boarding schools, both in terms of methods and academics. MA was strong on both. My teen is still close to his friends from there.

The benefit of (the good) therapeutic boarding schools is that there are often issues within the family/home that are best addresses when the teen is outside of the home for a sustained period of time. That’s why PHP’s etc. don’t work as well for kids who don’t have deep clinical diagnoses but are often struggling from anxiety/depression/substance use in response to issues that they can’t cope with. MA is careful about who they accept and will not accept kids who need hospital oversight (suicidal, bipolar, schizophrenia, in criminal justice system). Cash-strapped programs aren’t as careful, which could land your teen with peers he shouldn’t be around. You have to completely trust your educational consultant—their expertise, integrity, and motives. [/quote]

thanks for your post. does that school have doctors on staff? I can absolutely understand why residential care could be appropriate, but I have a sibling permanently scarred by being sent to “wilderness therapy” in Montana in the 90s. [/quote]

Yes, MA has a psychiatrist, clnical psychologist and nurse on its staff. For medical problems that arise, such as appendicitis. they use urgent care and Kalispell Regional Medical Cebter. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics