Boarding Schools for Boys

WinGate Wilderness Therapy provides Wilderness Therapy to troubled teens to encourage them in recovery so they can continue life as healthy young adults. Through an alliance-based therapeutic approach that is based upon the principles of the Arbinger Institute helps to motivate troubled teens to actively identify and work through their issues on their own. This unique approach prevents the dynamic power struggle that adolescents are so good at creating by allowing adolescents to remain in control of themselves.

This highly effective Wilderness Therapy Program is open to adolescents ages 13 to 17 and young adults ages 18 to 26. It can help troubled teens and young adults to cope with the struggles that come with coming of age and that manifest in a wide variety of ways, such as defiance, failure to launch, anxiety, negative self-esteem, substance abuse, adoption and identity issues, and even reaction to traumatic experiences. By approaching each and every teen and young adult with respect and dignity, WinGate encourages lasting change that is internally motivated and self-driven for lifelong results.

While WinGate is not a traditional boarding school, it offers many of the benefits of such to troubled youth. The pristine wilderness environment provides a distraction-free environment where teens and young adults can safely work through their issues, with the highly trained and specialized staff there to support them as they work toward healing and recovery on their own.

WinGate Wilderness Therapy has consultants available to provide further detail about our program, as well as to provide coaching and guidance to parents exploring options for their child. Call (800) 560-1599 to speak with a consultant now.

Boarding Schools for Troubled Teens Alternative

Boarding schools for troubled teens provide a safe environment for troubled youth to work through their issues with the assistance of trained staff. In this way, boarding schools provide a distraction-free zone for teens to better focus on getting treatment and recovery. However, WinGate Wilderness Therapy has taken that standard approach a step further, to produce self-directed changes in adolescent boys that last a lifetime.

With further distance placed between the boys and unsupportive peers, who often encourage the perpetuation of their issues, the responsive environment of the wilderness is created wherein the boys naturally seek out conversation and help. They are also more responsive to advice and treatment methods, as well as to their own internal sense of right and wrong that is strengthened through the adventure therapy program.

Wilderness therapy allows the opportunity to not only better focus upon healing and recovery from issues such as substance abuse, but it also affords the opportunity to see more clearly one's issues in an objective manner. In this way, struggling teens can better consider the situations that encourage their problems and how their choices and behaviors also serve to not only perpetuate but to create further problems for themselves.

WinGate is an affiliated member of the National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs which serves as an advocate and resource for organizations who are committed to providing the highest quality of effective therapy and treatment to our society's struggling youth. This dedication is evident throughout our programs that place heavy emphasis on treating every boy who goes through our program with the respect and dignity they deserve by simple right of being human.

This approach encourages troubled youth to be better responsive to therapy and treatment, as their basic psychological needs are being met, allowing them to feel safe and more able to explore their issues and work toward a solution.

Alternative to Boarding Schools for Troubled Youth

As WinGate Wilderness Therapy provides treatment for troubled teens and young adults, we offer two distinct programs based upon age groups. Our adolescent program serves troubled youth between the ages of 13 and 17, while our young adult program serves those who are 18 to 26. These programs recognize distinct differences between these age groups and allow for greater common ground among the participants that further supports the safety and security that wilderness therapy provides.

There are many advantages of wilderness therapy over traditional boarding schools for troubled teens. While boarding schools can and do provide adequate treatment for adolescents struggling with substance abuse, addiction, and myriad other issues that can be escalated by coming of age, wilderness therapy builds off of that efficacy to encourage struggling teens to self motivate and come to the decision that change is needed on their own.

With even fewer distractions than a boarding school has, teens, can more clearly see what lays at the heart of their issues and come to a place where they choose to actively move forward from their past. This self-directed change provides more concrete and lasting change, coming hand in hand with greater independence and self-respect that are found in the wilderness.

Through this experience, troubled teens move forward as strong and determined young adults, better prepared to continue with their recovery and resist falling into old behavioral patterns that only continued and created their problems in the first place.

WinGate Wilderness Therapy actively works with parents to design an individualized therapy plan for their teen, with basic dignity and recognition of autonomy that all humans deserve as the fundamental approach that all other therapeutic approaches follow.

Consultants are available to better explain our wilderness therapy program, as well as to guide parents through the application process and in determining the right course of action for their teen. Call (800) 560-1599 for more information.

Other Mental Health Resources for Parents:

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) - The mission of the NIDA is to lead the Nation in using the power of science to achieve the following two objectives: 1. The strategic assistance and carrying out of research across a broad range of disciplines. 2. The quick and effective distribution and use of the findings of this research to dramatically improve the prevention and treatment of addiction and drug abuse. This research is also used to inform the appropriate policy. The NIDA supports much of the world's research concerning the health aspects of addiction and drug abuse. Their website provides a variety of drug-related facts as well as Research Reports regarding addiction and drugs.