The Turning Winds model of care is centered around therapeutic support in a setting that resembles the family environment clients will return to. Healthy behaviors are practiced and reinforced in a safe environment. These new habits are then brought home and continue to be supported by staff during the transition.
Our team members are passionate about saving lives, inspiring kids, and giving back to the job. They trust each other and have a great way of interacting with each other and the kids. How do colleagues get this tight? “It helps that we all really like each other,” says chief operations officer Carl Baisden. He compares it to a functional family system.
“The most important person in a mother’s life is her husband, her partner, whom she is living her life with,” says Baisden. We believe that transfers over to Turning Winds where the most important people in my world are my teammates—the people I go to war with, the people I am in the trenches with.”
If the people at the top of the system are united, they’re the most important persons to each other. Everyone in that system feeds off that safety, that security, that predictability.
“That leaves less room for manipulation, for unhealthy patterns of behavior with kids,” says Baisden. “The most important people in a family to be united are mom and dad.” At Turning Winds, the staff has each other’s back, and “if we keep it that way, we can be the most effective team for the kids.”
There are clear similarities in the dynamic of a family system and the system created by the team at Turning Winds. “Recognizing the unity of that connection and knowing that we have strong bonds as teammates translate into amazing outcomes for our kids,” says Baisden. “For years, we have fostered a cohesive, powerful environment that allows our staff to love and support each other. As a result of that culture, we see these miraculous-feeling things where people show up for each other.”
It’s not Turning Winds policy that dictates that level of support, “it’s the culture of unity and connection we’re trying to facilitate,” Baisden explains. “We have hard jobs” and what makes it worth it is helping the kids and treating each other like family. “The staff culture sets the tone for a healthy client culture in treatment.”
At Turning Winds, it’s people who make the difference—teachers, therapists, and students. Over the past two decades, we’ve built a strong team with some of the world’s finest academic and therapeutic professionals, all of whom share the same goal: to help teens re-engage meaningfully with their lives, families, and futures.
Is your teen struggling with anxiety, isolation, or unhealthy tech habits? 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.
