At Turning Winds, it’s the people who make all the difference. Over the course of more than 20 years, we’ve built a team of some of the world’s finest academic and therapeutic professionals, all of whom share the same goal: to provide help for troubled teens and get them re-engaged with their lives, their families, and their futures.
Being a part of the Turning Winds team is a labor of love for our approximately 50 employees, many of whom have come from points far and wide to work at our beautiful facility. They each bring with them a passion for saving lives, inspiring kids, and giving back.
One of the dedicated and compassionate staff members is Turning Winds therapist Kim Sparks, LCPC: “I really enjoy the team membership. Everybody steps in. Everybody helps everybody. Compared to other places I’ve worked, it’s just very well organized with so many different departments functioning. It’s not just a few people handling all levels of the operations. But mostly, I think it’s the camaraderie among the staff. I haven’t worked in a program as organized or with as much support as there is here.”
Turning Winds uses a solution-oriented program that empowers our clients to become the engine behind their recovery. We provide a blended approach, utilizing both outdoor experiences and indoor environments to prevent treatment fatigue and increase engagement. A big part is developing a relationship of trust between patients and therapists, and we have a special ability to foster those connections given our fun environment.
“The one thing the staff coming to work here have in common is that compassion they have for the kids,” says Sparks. “We have a strong desire to help. We are truly compassionate maybe because a lot of us probably struggled with the same stuff when we were younger. So I think we can definitely relate to the kids, and they know we can relate because we’re all human, and we all made mistakes when we were younger.”
Turning Winds provides a safe, nurturing refuge—a home away from home that gives teens time and space to heal.
“Everybody here is treated much like family by the staff who are kind of considered the house parents,” explains Sparks. “They do get to represent those relationships with their parents at home, so they get to model that. Therapeutically, we implement skills and tools to give to them but it’s also about the regular milieu of the group, the way they interact as a family, interact as siblings.”
Turning Winds CEO Owen Baisden considers his staff a breed apart. “One of the things our staff have in common is they, to one degree or another, all struggled in their youth. So, they can relate to the people they’re working with. And they have a mission. They’re not out to make a lot of money or to get rich, instead they have a mission to help people. Because they were in the woods themselves at one point and they found their way out. It’s pretty amazing to hear all of their stories.”
A little over twenty years ago, Turning Winds began with the simple desire to help young lives see a new path. In the two decades since, the program has matured into a sophisticated program that blends the benefits of a wilderness program, a residential treatment center, and a boarding school.
Our mission is to rescue teens from crisis situations, renew their belief in their own 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.
