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Turning Winds Residential Treatment Center for Teens

HOLISTIC AND THERAPEUTIC TREATMENT FOR TEENS 13-18 SUFFERING FROM MENTAL HEALTH AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE DISORDERS. 

Through an individualized program of evidence-based care, personalized academic support, inspirational experiences, and authentic human connection, Turning Winds helps young people understand themselves, their challenges, and how to actively manage and pursue lives of purpose and meaning.  

Warmly Welcoming

EXPERIENCE THE AUTHENTIC JOY IN SIMPLE PLEASURES AND NATURE TEACHES THE LESSON THAT HAPPINESS CAN BE FOUND IN THE SIMPLE THINGS OF LIFE.  

The Turning Winds campus feels like home. Turning Winds sits near the banks of the South Fork Yaak River, surrounded by majestic mountains and an abundance of nature.  The setting seems to displace time.  With an aura of serenity, it marks the passage from a world of limitations to one of potential and from a state of alienation to one of belonging. 

Turning Winds fosters a therapeutic residential treatment environment modeling functional family communion to help adolescents achieve better mental health and establish beliefs that support long-term stability and personal success. Turning Winds team members are selected for their skills, talent for authentic connection, and ability to model personal fulfillment and familial belonging. Longer-than-average durations of stay enable deeper and more accurate assessment of underlying issues and authentic disposition and support the adoption of learned skills and ideas. Its remoteness protects young people from potentially harmful environmental factors, increases focus, and supports the development of beneficial relationships and authentic identity. The program operates from the premise that helping young people struggling with substance use and mental health disorders often means teaching them how to discern the important from the superfluous aspects of life and to redefine one’s definition of personal success. 

The Turning Winds program addresses one of the most pressing issues of our time — historic rates of dysphoria and mental health disorders among young people. Stressors including the threat of school violence, family separation, financial pressures and debt, political angst, eco-anxiety, school performance pressures, and other real and perceived threats are making it harder for young people to feel safe. Omnipresent electronic devices and social media make it difficult to avoid negative headlines, bullying, and the artificial realities of curated lifestyles. Turning Winds provides a therapeutic respite from a dysfunctional cultural experience, reconnection with core human values, and the holistic education and therapeutic alliance needed to perceive and practice intentional living. 

Turning Winds represents a critical resource for adolescents, families, and communities. The program’s therapeutic work and its ability to help individuals become healthier, happier people, family members, and community members yield far-reaching personal and societal benefits. While other programs offer similar combinations of clinical, academic, and experiential services, Turning Winds uses comparatively long treatment durations, specialized milieu, and experiential programming to deepen the effectiveness of care. The program’s holistic approach, relational focus, and emphasis on achieving authentic client openness make Turning Winds especially effective at facilitating positive outcomes and long-term change. 

Here, in our comfortable setting, and with the help of experienced and caring professionals along with the support of collegial peers, adolescents learn to believe more in the power of themselves and human connection over the pleasures of possessions.  They develop a sincere appreciation for the natural world and gain a meaningful distance from the pace and pretense of today’s world.  The young people who come to Turning Winds become part of an extended family whose values of respect, trust, and love facilitate the development of emotional maturity and skills that fuel a sense of accomplishment and purpose.  

We invite you to further explore the uniqueness of the Turing Winds treatment program.  As you embark upon this new journey, know that you are not alone and together we can make a difference in your teen’s life.  

Modeling Success

TURNING WINDS MODELS A FUNCTIONAL FAMILY SYSTEM WHICH IS A POWERFUL SOURCE OF IDENTITY AND GROWTH.

Since its founding, the idea of family has remained a foundational precept of the program. Our team members are carefully selected based on their ability to comfortably and productively operate within the familial atmosphere of the program and to exceptionally and consistently model values of trust, respect, and love.  

Each member of our team is a well-rounded and talented individual with diverse life experiences and valuable skills that offer a unique window into the most fundamental aspects of successful human life- presence, empathy, compassion, and competence.  

The Turning Winds care team is comprised of licensed clinicians, a psychiatrist, certified teachers, 24-hour nursing support, and the presence of executive leadership.

Every day presents opportunities for joy, learning, and realization.

Holistic help for enduring change.

Time for Change

LONG-TERM TREATMENT PLAYS A SIGNIFICANT ROLE IN THE TURNING WINDS DIFFERENCE.  

The ability of young people to engage in integrated therapeutic programming for an extended period of time significantly increases the benefits of treatment.  Longer stays aid in the development of positive relationships, practice new habits, allow teenagers to experience the benefits of improved health, and facilitate a deeper clinical assessment and personalized care.  The typical average stay for treatment is seven months but can vary depending on an individual’s needs.  There are three aspects of long lengths of stay that are especially important to enhancing the efficacy of treatment.

Openness 

Oppositional defiance is relatively common in adolescents. Young people suffering from mental health conditions and who have experienced negative life events can erect significant barriers that make it harder for caregivers to develop effective alliances. People with mental health disorders may also have a more difficult time trusting their own beliefs and abilities, as well as the intentions of others. Despite the best efforts of talented caregivers, becoming open to the possibility of achieving an improved quality of life, and accepting the desire of treatment providers to help can take significant time. Sufficient time in treatment enables repeated exposures to positive messages, examples, and activities that lead to the openness required to adopt a hopeful outlook and engage in care. Critically, the ability to believe in the efficacy of treatment and the desire of caregivers to help us are fundamental ‘common factors of psychotherapy.’ 

Unmasking 

Clients who become open to change may still wear carefully constructed masks that prevent them from exposing underlying issues and conditions. While becoming open to the possibility of change can take considerable time, it may take even longer to remove the pretense that shields one’s deepest perceptions and problems. Adequate time helps members of the treatment team to identify the root causes that may lead clients to act inauthentically or hide their true feelings and beliefs. Only by removing our protective veneer are we able to fully reveal the sources of our dysphoria so that they may be addressed. Given adequate time with clients, talented caregivers can help them feel safe in removing the protective masks that stop them from getting the care they need and being the people, they yearn to become. The ability of clients to reveal themselves to staff and peers is a crucial differentiator from shorter-duration programs. Continuous client assessment and care plan optimization over long periods allows treatment to identify and address more underlying issues, find previously undiagnosed disorders, and improve client belief and skill adoption. 

Supervised Practice 

Cognitive-behavioral therapy techniques, life skills, relational skills, and academics require practice to master. The more time clients can spend with clinicians, case managers, teachers, and other team members, the more opportunities they have to learn, practice, and perfect the skills that will allow them to maintain better health, manage their conditions, and succeed in life. While evidence-based CBT skills can be taught through outpatient and short-term residential programs, the supervised practice of these skills under the tutelage of experienced professionals familiar with each client’s case increases skill retention, fluency, and effectiveness.

Turning Winds 20-year anniversary

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