Substance misuse and disruptive behavior inflict harm on the individual and create a ripple effect of emotional turmoil throughout the family.
During these stressful and challenging times, family engagement plays a vital role in the healing and recovery of teenagers with substance use and mental health issues.
When faced with these emotional or behavioral challenges, parents urgently seek help and desperately try to figure out how to help their child and change the situation—before it’s too late.
Finding Hope and Healing: Parenting Support at Turning Winds
Evaluating the efficacy of a residential treatment center can be confusing and often creates more questions than answers. At Turning Winds, we offer parents both experienced and knowledgeable admissions counselors and, even more importantly, the invaluable insights of parents who have been through the whole process before.
The Power of the Turning Winds Parent Support Community
A while ago, family members of Turning Winds alumni organized a parent group that is now very active. “Parents took the initiative to form this group,” says Enoch Stump, Program Director.
“We have parents whose children’s lives were transformed at Turning Winds – ten years ago, eight years ago, even five years ago – now coming together weekly to support each other. Once a month, a member of our team joins to check in and answer questions.
How the Parent Support Group Works
This parent support group fosters a sense of belonging and understanding for families starting their own treatment journey. The shared experiences and wisdom within this group are a unique resource for new Turning Winds families, and a testament to the success and reliability of our residential treatment.
The Turning Winds Parent Support Group is an incredibly valuable resource for families of new clients who just started the treatment process. “They set up this group on Facebook,” explains Stump. “It wasn’t us but they talk to us and now the parent group includes alumni from the last decade or so.”
Family Support & Education: The Cornerstone of Turning Winds Success
“When kids go to Turning Winds, their parents go to Turning Winds,” says Stump. Treatment involves a learning process for clients and parents.
Families are encouraged to attend the Turning Winds parent workshop. Our parenting workshops are an incredible educational experience with Dr. Foster Klein, the founder of the Love & Logic Institute. “This guy with 40 years of experience as a board-certified adolescent psychiatrist has developed one of the coolest programs ever for kids,” explains Turning Winds’ chief operations officer Carl Baisden.
The Family Factor: Parents as Partners in Treatment
By participating in the parent workshop and the parent group, “they get a taste of the process of growing and they become very eager to support other people going through this process,” says Stump. It frequently takes four to five months for clients to buy into the program and embrace positive change.
“This program works because we build relationships with these kids. The more of a relationship therapists have, the more of a positive impact they can have on these kids,” says Sean Carlin, Turning Winds therapist.
Our clients don’t have access to cell phones or computer games. Even TV time is limited. “It forces these kids to think outside the box and try things that they may not ever have tried before in their lives because they have no phone, they have no computer, they have no video games. So now they have to go out and learn new social skills.”
More than Mental Health Therapy: Learning and Building Life Skills
Therapeutic approaches—many particular to the Turning Winds boarding school environment—include character education, health, and wellness of body and mind, outdoor experiential education, evidence-based clinical care, and academic success, along with continuously improving each aspect of our therapeutic program through measuring outcomes in each area.
The Ripple Effect: A Nationwide Community of Parenting Support
The more parents know and understand this process, the more they can do to support their children—and other families. “We just had a new family with a kid who was just starting treatment,” recalls Stump.
“They were going through all this stress and anxiety that a new family goes through, wondering whether their kid will make it and these families just rally.” Thanks to the parent group, they benefited from “a whole hour of sharing experiences.
The new family wrote us a note about how important that evening had been for them, meeting with all the other parents.”
The Turning Winds alumni and family system now extends to all 50 states. The other day, “a former client, now 18, checked in,” remembers Stump.
“He comes in and asks who is struggling. ‘Who can I connect with?’ And then he joined the parent group. His jumping in was a testimony to these parents. He’s very eager and his family continues to participate in the parenting support group. Although, he was discharged a while ago, and he had this amazing presentation for the families.”
Turning Winds A Beacon of Hope For Families of At Risk Teens
Over the past two decades, Turning Winds has been able to help many families overcome what seemed impossible odds. Our mission is to rescue teens from crisis situations. Renew their belief in their potential, reunite them with their families, and put them on a sustainable path to success.
Contact us online for more information, or call us at 800-845-1380. If your call isn’t answered personally, one of us will get back to you as soon as possible.
