Troubled Youth

Logan River Academy has many years of successful experience working with troubled youth. Although there are many schools and programs that work with troubled youth, finding the right program for the unique needs of each troubled youth can be a challenge. Some programs only serve a very narrow niche of clients with very specific issues and diagnoses. Other programs admit troubled youth with a wide variety of issues and diagnoses.

It is important to understand that both of these approaches can be problematic. Programs that claim to be the right place for everybody cannot possibly create a therapeutic setting that benefits each and every troubled youth. The range of needs for youth in treatment is extremely broad. Residential clients present with varying degrees of acuity, severity, aggression, willingness to work, executive functioning, limitations, motivations, histories of problems, experiences, maturity, learning capacities, cultural background, diagnoses, and so on. The definition of a troubled youth is extremely broad and the needs of each individual seeking help is unique. Programs that claim they can help anybody are more likely to help nobody. On the other hand programs which are overly specific about which clients they work with run the risk of too homogeneous of a group, which can create an artificial environment. This can make functioning in the real world after treatment difficult because they were only exposed to people with the same exact set of problems while dealing with their own.

At Logan River Academy, we believe the treatment environment can be managed to suit the capabilities and needs of each troubled youth that meets our admission criteria. We are selective in the troubled youth we serve to ensure as best we can that our students will benefit from being here. We strive to provide a safe, nurturing treatment environment that translates to the real world (see Boundary Model). We provide specialized dorms and treatment settings for students with specific needs. We also provide exposure to a group that is diverse enough to not feel artificial, but specialized enough to provide for each troubled youth’s needs. As students progress in their treatment, opportunities are provided that simulate the real world environment they will experience after leaving treatment. This is accomplished by adding privileges and autonomy, changing dorms, working, spending more time in the community, more frequent family visits, and other activities that allow students to grow and test the skills they have learned.