When parents have no choice but to place their troubled teen in a program away from home, they need to consider the difference between a boarding school, a boarding school with a therapeutic focus or a boot camp. So what are the differences?
Boot camps started as an alternative to jail for juvenile adolescents. In some case these facilities can be a starting place for getting your teen help, when defiance and lack of respect for authority are the main characteristic of the child's behavior. In both the state and private environment the camp's goal is to "scare kids straight."
Parents often seek out boot camps with the assumption that a "wake up call" is all that is needed for their troubled teen. However, many times the issues are much deeper than the parent understands, including hidden childhood abuse a chemical imbalance, which obviously cannot be "scared straight."
Boot camps are usually short-term and are usually military-style, including military exercises and intense physical training and "in your face" supervision, focusing on reality, respect and responsibility. Many teens lack these qualities, yet they desperately need them in order to successfully transition into adulthood. This experience can help some defiant teens replace destructive attitudes and behaviors with new perspectives and direction in their lives. The concept is that a "quick reality check" will turn a child around who has been acting out. These boot camp style programs are usually ineffective for teens that have developed bad habits over a long period of time and are in need of long term change.
Most boot camps for teens include uniforms, marching in formation as well as a "yes sir" and "no sir" mentality. They are a very structured environment that includes the drill instructors getting right in the face of the cadet, similar to a military boot camp. Barracks are similar to the military as well, including bunk beds, foot lockers and a very strict, no holes barred system of inspections that must be completed without error if the teen is to survive the ordeal, even for a short period of time.
Whether a teen is able to handle this type of environment is actually a question that must be considered before a parent puts them in the midst of intense drill instructors and within the environment that does not permit any outside contact for a prescribed period of time. Parents should consider more than just if the cadet can survive. They should consider whether juvenile boot camps are the right choice for a troubled teen. It is clear that teens with behavioral problems that are simply a side-effect of other deeper issues should not be considered for teen boot camps.
While many male adults of the past generation attribute their time in the military with turning them into a "man," there are a few things to consider. First, teens recruited into the military are usually a few years older, and that can make all the difference (even a few months can make a difference for a teen). Secondly, teens in the military either elected to be there or were drafted, not forced to go there by their parents. Think about that difference in the mindset of a scared and confused teen. And thirdly, recruits in the military get to the other side of boot camp with a sense of accomplishment and pride with their peer recruits, ready to take on the world as a member of a big powerful institution. Teens in boot camps often return home defeated, disenfranchised and without purpose.
On the other hand, a parent can place a child in a non-therapeutic boarding school and hope for the best. This isn't what I would recommend either, since most boarding schools are not equipped to handle disruptive teens any more than your home is and the troubled teen will soon be kicked out or simply run away.
So what is the right answer for your teen? That depends on your teen's situation, and I recommend that you seek counsel from a qualified teen counselor and a psychologist (both) before deciding anything.
Heartlight is a specialized program set up to deal with troubled teens. Such therapeutic programs are few, but they are developed to focus on the child's mental and behavioral state while at the same time continuing their education. Unlike boot camps, Heartlight's program is relational and loving. We show the teen that rules are important and we are unbending in that regard. If the rules are not followed, then there are consequences, real but not physical. For instance, they may lose a privilege, they may not advance to the next level as soon (which has more privileges or prestige), or they may be required to do some work.
Heartlight has a high ratio of staff to students, almost one staff member for each student on campus. Each student is assigned a specialized counselor, a focus group and activities are designed to target behavioral issues.
The Hrartlight therapeutic program coupled with a school prgram is a good choice for many teen behavioral issues other than criminal acts, entrenched drug use, or a mental or psychological handicaps. Teens at Heartlight learn to determine what their weaknesses are and how it affects their behavior, and how to grow the opposing virtue which will help eliminate their destructive behaviors.
When situations of divorce, death, abuse, social difficulties, academic struggles, adoption issues, or victimization and unhealthy patterns of dealing with those issues a therapeutic program like Heartlght can offer a safe and life-changing alternative to boot camps, military academies, and wilderness programs.
If you don't choose Heartlight, I recommend that you seek out a program with a Biblical counseling approach. Each child should be involved in activities that support the individual and group counseling and also help them see that the security and significance they seek can be found in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, who desires to fill those empty chasms of life and give meaning, purpose, and direction to their life.
Mark Gregston
