The Blog of P.U.R.E. and Sue Scheff

Good teens making bad choices. It can be very common. “Does my teen need residential therapy? Isn’t this a drastic step? How will I know if we are at the point of placing our child at a therapeutic boarding school or residential treatment center?” – Anonymous parent As I share with parents,  residential therapy  is a major decision not to be taken lightly.  It’s not about teaching your child a lesson, it’s not about punishing your teen or scaring them straight — residential therapy is a huge financial and emotional decision that is made after you have exhausted all your  local  resources. Residential therapy is a choice made out of love to give your child a second chance at a bright future. Usually a parent has reached their  wit’s end ; they have been to local therapy, some have even tried having their teen stay with a relative.  Some have been through extensive out-patient programs but it isn’t until you remove (residential therapy) t...

   Is your teen withdrawing from the family? Summer is here and some parents will be considering summer camps while others are in the midst of hoping their teenager passed the school year, or had enough credits to graduate. If you are the parent of a teen who is struggling with school and acting out, it can drive you to your wit's end.   Maybe your once fun-loving teenager who is good looking, intelligent, and has lots of good friends is now talking back to you, staying out late or sneaking out, defiant, and possibly sexually active? On the flip side, your once sweet child might be a teenage misfit who is acting out because of bullying, or is experimenting with sex, drugs, and/or alcohol in a desperate attempt to find acceptance. What happens when you have a teenager that decides they don't want to finish high school when they are more than capable? Perhaps they were consistently getting excellent grades and now they are just getting by or failing...