Specialty Residential Treatment (RTC)
What Does a Specialty Residential Treatment Center (RTC) Offer?
Specialty residential treatment centers, which include therapeutic boarding schools, transitional living programs, and wilderness therapy, offer many benefits to the teenagers, young adults, and families they treat. They provide:
- A comprehensive evaluation to assess behavioral, emotional, and social needs.
- An individualized treatment plan to help your child heal.
- An on-site team of professionals to coordinate comprehensive behavioral health care and provide emotional support for your child.
- Individual, family, and group therapy.
- Family involvement through family therapy sessions, on-site visits, telephone calls, and other modes of communication.
- Evidence-based, relationship focused treatment.
- Treatment that helps your child build or rebuild life skills.
How Do You Know If Your Child Needs Specialty Residential Care?
With so many care options available, how do you know if this is the right one for your daughter or son? People choose specialty residential care, a type of inpatient program, for various reasons, but there are certain issues that nearly always necessitate this level of treatment, including severe addictions, eating disorders, and mental illnesses.
While there are specific issues that warrant a stay in a specialty residential treatment center, other factors may also call for this level of care, including:
- Having educational needs that a less-restrictive setting cannot meet.
- Lacking adequate support at home.
- Needing intensive treatment after receiving inpatient mental health care in a hospital setting.
- Requiring safety and stabilization.
- Requiring a higher level of care than outpatient treatment.
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Types of Specialty Residential Treatment
Therapeutic boarding schools offer educational programs that are integrated with the therapeutic program and include specialized supervision for students with behavioral and emotional problems, as well as substance use issues and learning difficulties. Often teens transition to a therapeutic boarding school following successful wilderness therapy or residential treatment. This can help them maintain the gains they received in treatment. Teens who are compliant in the treatment process and do not require intensive treatment are good candidates for a therapeutic boarding school.
A therapeutic boarding school is a school-based treatment facility that combines therapy and education for students with psychological, behavioral, and emotional challenges.
There, the teen would receive therapy while getting an individualized education and participating in recreational activities or service opportunities.
Typically, a therapeutic boarding school is highly structured to help students build emotional and personal skills while continuing their education. Many schools have college prep academics and/or special education services.
The difference between residential treatment and a therapeutic boarding school can sometimes be difficult to ascertain, but generally, students in a therapeutic school have completed other intensive treatment that has resulted in a degree of personal insight and cooperation that was not there previously.
Sometimes young adults (typically ages 18-28) need extra support as they transition into independent living and adulthood. There are many types of programs that can help these young adults as they transition. Often, these programs include the features of long-term treatment but with the goal of preparing young adults for independence.
At-risk teens and young adults dealing with wide-ranging emotional and behavioral issues may benefit from a wilderness therapy treatment program.
Teens and young adults who enroll in wilderness therapy typically do not thrive in, or have already not had success with, traditional residential or outpatient therapy, while others are simply resistant to treatment. In these cases, wilderness therapy can be an alternative to traditional treatment settings.
Interested In Our Specialty Residential Treatment Center (RTC)?
The best way to figure out which type of therapy or treatment is best for your family is to talk with one of our mental health professionals.
They’ll consider your daughter or son's symptoms and treatment history and outline what you and your child want out of therapy to recommend the best next steps specific to your situation.
If you think one of our specialty residential treatment centers may be right for your family, contact us today to learn more about Embark.
