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

You have finally reached your wit's end. You have exhausted all your local resources. Your teen is refusing local therapy - not that it is working at this point anyway. Your teen has so much academic potential, however is refusing to put any effort forward. Your teen has literally become someone you barely recognize - and you realize if you don't intervene you may not get another chance. Is it your fault? Is it the school? Is it their friends? We can waste time with the blame game all day and night long, but in the end it is your teen that is making these negative choices and it is your responsibility as a parent to make the right ones. So as many parents do - they hit the keyboard and are bombarded in a new and scarey world of the big business of "teen help". Red flags -red lights -and fear can quickly run through your mind - not to mention the sticker shock of many of these programs and schools. Take the time to breath and learn about exactly what ...

I hear this question a lot.  Of course the answer is only opinion based - and may depend on your child and your needs. Not sure whether to hire an EC?  Here is some food for thought: Educational Consultants (EC) were originally designed to help parents with their teens to find the right colleges and with the application process.  With the growth and expansion of technology, the need for their assistance has become nearly extinct.  Parents and students have found they can find quick results on CollegeBoard.org for about every school and every question they have. As the shift in teen help increased, they seemed to branch out into the residential treatment field. Most have not experienced what you are going through.  Most do not know what you are dealing with at home.  Only an experienced parent that has been there really knows that feeling of helplessness.   In the teen help industry a term that has been coined is the EC Shuffl...