The phrase “therapeutic school” might bring to mind images of troubled teen boot camps, private boarding schools, or residential in-patient treatment facilities doubling as schools.
“Too often in education, we rely on models that are failing students, especially our most vulnerable,” U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan wrote in an essay published recently on Medium. “We need to change this by investing in models that are proven to work for our most disadvantaged students.”
That means tackling underlying issues that contribute to poor learning among K-12 students, including trauma.
Addressing Challenges in Uncertain Times
Today’s school children are experiencing record levels of depression and anxiety, alongside multiple forms of trauma. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the suicide rate among children ages 10 to 17 increased by 70 percent between 2006 and 2016.1 Approximately 72 percent of children in the United States will have experienced at least one major stressful event—such as witnessing violence, experiencing abuse, or experiencing the loss of a loved one—before the age of 18.2. These statistics are staggering, and the traditional school is not able to provide the necessary support for students. CDC Statistics
Professional standards recommend at least one counselor and one social worker for every 250 students, and at least one nurse and one psychologist for every 750 students and every 700 students. These staffing recommendations reflect a minimum requirement. Nonetheless, 90 percent of students in public schools fail to meet this standard when supporting students.
Mental health problems often overlap with drug use in adolescents. For example, a teen with a substance use disorder is more likely to have a mood, anxiety, learning, or behavioral disorder too. Adolescents may begin taking drugs to deal with depression or anxiety, for example; on the other hand, frequent drug use may also cause or precipitate those disorders. We still are learning so much about the mental health of teens. To learn more, click here: Continued Reading
Supporting Youth Through ADVANTAGES Academic Solutions
Ten years ago, ADVANTAGES School International started partnering with therapeutic boarding schools. A therapeutic school is a type of alternative school that specialized in educating and helping troubled teenagers and young adults. These troubles can range from behavioral and emotional challenges to cognitive learning challenges that can’t be properly addressed in a traditional school environment. In addition to offering classes, these schools typically provide psychological counseling and are often involved with the students on a very deep level to help rehabilitate them and restore their mental, physical, and emotional health. There are both therapeutic boarding schools, which have intensive residential programs, as well as therapeutic day schools, at which students remain at home outside of the school day.
Students often attend therapeutic schools because they have psychological issues to work on, including substance abuse or emotional and behavioral needs. Students sometimes have to attend residential programs or therapeutic boarding schools in order to have a completely drug-free environment removed from negative influences at home. Other students who attend therapeutic schools have psychiatric diagnoses or learning issues such as Oppositional Defiant Disorder, depression or other mood disorders, Asperger’s Syndrome, ADHD or ADD, or learning disabilities. Other students in therapeutic schools are attempting to understand difficult life situations and need stricter environments and healthier strategies for doing so. Most students who attend therapeutic schools have faced academic failure in mainstream educational settings and need strategies to help them succeed. This is where ASI comes in.
While the students receive top care at the therapeutic treatment centers, the education is delivered online in a secured fashion with instruction by either ADVANTAGES teachers online or by someone in house at the treatment center.
Flexible Learning Experiences
Students can do partial credit or complete full courses. Students can work on credit recovery or launch into new courses helping them to stay on track for graduation. ADVANTAGES School International (ASI) offers two different types of diplomas to better serve all students and help them achieve their goals; general studies diploma and the college prep diploma.
Being accredited, ASI will work with the therapeutic treatment center to award credit for courses delivered on site such as art therapy and yoga to count towards some of the credit hours required for their graduation.
To further bridge this success, ASI provides flexibility for the students and families once they leave the therapeutic treatment center by offering a tuition discount to transfer to ASI. This is designed to help the students complete all of their courses on a monthly basis that they started and/or provide a successful option for them to earn their high school diploma with ASI. All of the school work transfers seamlessly. There is no obligation to stay with ASI at any point. The options are available to both stay and graduate with ASI or complete their courses and then those courses will be added to an official transcript and sent to the school of their choice.
The therapeutic treatment centers can customize and tailor ASI to fit their model. ASI provides unofficial transcripts at the demand of one click in the platform. It is dynamic and easy to use. For more questions, please contact us.
