As a parent, watching your teenager struggle with their mental health can be painful. You’ve considered residential treatment for your teen, but you’ve also wondered—does it really work?
Understanding the various types of residential treatment options available can empower you to make informed decisions. By connecting with a treatment professional, you can explore the best fit for your teen, ensuring they receive integrated care they need for sustainable healing.
What You’ll Learn
- What types of residential treatment are available for teens?
- What determines the effectiveness of a residential treatment program?
- What treatment options work for teens?
- When should you consider residential treatment for your teen?
Quick Read
As a parent, witnessing your teenager struggle with mental health issues can be incredibly painful, leading you to consider residential treatment as a potential solution. However, you may find yourself questioning its effectiveness. Understanding the various types of residential treatment options available can empower you to make informed decisions for your child.
The effectiveness of residential treatment programs hinges on several factors, including program quality, family involvement, and the expertise of the staff. Quality programs should be evidence-based and integrated, addressing both mental health and substance use conditions.
Recognizing when residential treatment is necessary is vital. At Newport Academy, we offer tailored residential treatment centers that address both mental health and substance use issues in a safe and supportive environment. Our integrated approach focuses on healing, academic success, and life skills, helping your teen embark on a fulfilling journey toward recovery.
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Types of Residential Treatment
There are a few different types of residential treatment facilities for adolescents. They include:
- General residential treatment centers (RTCs). RTCs incorporate substance use and mental health treatment with academic teaching, therapeutic activities, and life skills training in a healing environment.
- Therapeutic boarding schools. These provide a full academic curriculum that is integrated with therapy for teens with behavioral issues or learning disabilities.
- Specialized residential programs. Specialized programs offer rehabilitation from substance use disorders and mental health conditions, whether in a traditional environment or out in nature (such as a wilderness or adventure program).
Inpatient vs. Residential Treatment
Inpatient and residential treatment are both forms of care for individuals struggling with mental health issues and substance use disorders. However, they differ in several key aspects, including the level of care, duration, and structure of the programs:
- Inpatient treatment. These are often hospital-based and provide 24/7 medical supervision and support. Inpatient treatment is typically more intensive, with a higher level of medical and psychological support; their staff is equipped to handle acute crises and severe symptoms. Inpatient stays are usually shorter, often lasting from a few days to a few weeks.
- Residential treatment. This type of treatment involves a longer-term stay in a home-like facility. The focus is on long-term recovery and rehabilitation. Residential facilities provide a structured environment with programs that often include therapy, life skills training, academics, and experiential learning.
Effectiveness of Residential Treatment for Teens
Do residential treatment centers work? Yes, but the effectiveness of a residential treatment program for teens depends on several factors. It is critically important to research specific sites, talk to staff, or visit prior to selecting a treatment center. Here’s what to look for in a treatment program:
Program Quality
A residential treatment program should be evidence-based, meaning that it is informed by the most current best practices, and research-backed, which means that it has clinical research to support its treatment approach. It’s best if the program is integrated, meaning that it can treat both substance use and mental health conditions in the same setting. This is important because untreated conditions can lead to relapse.
Additionally, the program should also have an interdisciplinary team—a set of professionals with different specialties who will be able to work together to support a patient’s recovery. Finally, a residential treatment center should have a solid reputation and accreditations from organizations such as The Joint Commission.
Family Focus
Family involvement can play a key role in recovery, especially for teens. The family is a teen’s primary support network. Quality programs for teens will focus on educating families, including them in the recovery plan, and integrating them into the counseling and rehabilitation process for the adolescent.
Expert Staff
The best residential treatment programs for teens will be staffed with expert clinicians who have different specialties and work together as a team to address the specific needs of adolescents. These clinicians should be credentialed, up-to-date on best practices, have a strong medical or research background, and demonstrate professionalism in every context.
Strong Aftercare Program
Relationships, community, and support are highly effective tools when it comes to helping anyone, especially teens, recover from substance use or mental health issues. A quality treatment program will focus on supporting teens in their recovery from day one and ensuring that they have a sustainable plan for continuing care, such as an effective outpatient, Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP), Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP), or telehealth program.
Moreover, a strong Alumni Program is also important for teens and their parents to maintain community and support after treatment.
Evidence-Based Treatment Options that Work for Teens
The success of certain treatment options for teens varies based on the teen’s specific needs, support, and environment. However, there are some approaches that have been proven to help teens manage mental health symptoms and recover from behavioral health issues. Here are some of research-backed therapies that have been effective for teens:
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
CBT has been shown to be effective for teens with depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), trauma, and disruptive behavior disorders, according to the World Journal of Clinical Pediatrics.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
Research shows, DBT has been very helpful to teens with regard to emotional regulation, identity development, and general mental health, according to Brain Sciences.
Attachment-Based Family Therapy
ABFT involves learning better communication and conflict resolution, which can improve both parent/child and sibling interactions. ABFT is highly effective for facilitating open and honest communication within the family, allowing members to express their feelings, needs, and concerns effectively.
Hence, these skills are essential for ensuring teens return from treatment to an environment where they feel safe and supported but also understand they are also responsible for their actions and behaviors.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
EMDR is incredibly effective for treating trauma in teens. The bilateral stimulation used in EMDR can help desensitize individuals to the emotional distress associated with traumatic memories. This means that as the therapy progresses, teens often report a decrease in the intensity of their emotional reactions towards the trauma.
Experiential Therapy
Experiential therapies help teens express their emotions in a safe, supportive environment. Often, they can process feelings that may have been suppressed or ignored. By participating in hands-on activities, such as art, music, yoga, Mixed Martial Arts, or outdoor Adventure Therapy, teens can process trauma and develop coping strategies, leading to increased self-awareness and personal growth.
When to Consider Residential Treatment
When is residential treatment necessary for a teenager? According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), you should consider residential treatment for your teen when he or she is exhibiting the following signs:
Additionally, if your child is prone to extreme anger, worry, crying, and seems to be constantly irritable, with sleep problems and changes in appetite, or is isolating and detaching from friends, it’s time to connect with a treatment professional. Your teen can discover how to thrive again with appropriate treatment and support.
- Aggressive behavior, violence, or threats of violence
- Self-harming behavior
- Suicidal ideation or plans of suicide
- Problems at school that have not improved with intervention
- Substance use
- Running away
- Disordered eating practices
- Severe mood swings / changes that are causing them difficulty that have not improved with any traditional approaches
For more information, read: Is Residential Treatment Right for My Teen?
What Newport Academy Offers to Teens
At Newport Academy, we have a number of residential treatment centers (RTCs) across the country that are tailored specifically to the needs of children ages 7–11 and teens ages 12–18. Our treatment centers are integrated, addressing both mental health and co-occurring conditions concurrently.
We focus on healing environments that are safe and supportive for your teen, with gender-separate housing, a multidisciplinary staff, and accredited academic teaching. Newport provides psychiatric care and medication management, individual and group clinical therapy, and experiential therapies, including adventure therapy, art, music, yoga, Mixed Martial Arts, Equine-Assisted Therapy, and more.
And finally, we are results-focused, providing industry leading outcomes consistently year after year. If you’re ready to learn more about how we can help your teen start the journey to a fulfilling life, contact us today.
Sources:
Alcohol Treat Q. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2024 Feb 28.
Brain Sci. 2023 Sep 15;13(9):1328.
J Subst Abuse Treat. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2022 Oct 1
World J Clin Pediatr. 2018 Feb 8;7(1):1–8.
