Ten Top Mistakes Parents Make When Choosing a Residential Camp for their Teen
Mistake number 8: It is not important to tell the school everything our teen has done!
Whilst you may find it really difficult to talk about your teens' behavior to a stranger, it is crucial if they are to help your teen back on the road to recovery. If you underplay the extent of your teen's poor behavior in an attempt to get them into military school, for example, it will result in them being thrown out when they misbehave as normal!
Worse, you may enroll your teen into a camp that does not have the skills to deal with an oppositional defiant disorder teen, and the teen will not get the help they need, running away, or getting into further trouble. Now is not the time to be ashamed or embarrassed or try to play down the problem. You are denying your teen the necessary treatment if you lie about their problems.
What will a good residential treatment center want to know and what should you tell them?
- Short answer, everything! However, there are certain particular types of information they need to help your teen
- The pattern of behavior over time, when the poor behavior started
- Any particular triggering events, e.g. divorce, loss of a friend, examinations, changing school
- Levels of violence the teen is capable of, however awful it is telling them this
- Relationship with siblings, different parents, grandparents
- Academic strengths and weaknesses
- Any clinical diagnosis, e.g. ADHD, ODD, depression
- Any suicide attempts, however mild, or attention seeking
- Peer relationships, types of friends, lack of friends
- Any addiction issues, even if you think they are over
- Any allergies, this is critical medical information
- Any criminal convictions or cautions
- Sexual behavior, attitudes, experience
- Religious beliefs or lack of
- Self harm incidents
- Attitude to animals, especially relevant for animal therapy, but also a useful indicator of social skills and emotional balance
- Any family history of mental health
Most decent teen schools will do a rigorous assessment of your teenager before accepting them, so lying on the application will get you nowhere, but not all questions can uncover certain issues. You owe it to your teenager to make sure the school is well informed so that they can handle anything your teen throws at them! If a school is not interested in your child's history, do not be interested in them, look elsewhere!