Residential Treatment Centers Defined
“We change our behavior when the pain of staying the same becomes greater than the pain of changing. Consequences give us the pain that motivates us to change.”
― Henry Cloud, Clinical Psychologist
Asheville Academy as an alternative to residential treatment centers
Asheville Academy uses a safety-based, collaborative, multidisciplinary, individualized, developmentally appropriate, and approved approach to make our therapeutic boarding school environment as effective and nurturing as possible. Residential treatment centers have the reputation of working with teens struggling with severe behavioral or emotional challenges. At our therapeutic boarding school, we help young girls trying to overcome challenges in a comfortable, home-like environment. We have all of the therapeutic capabilities as residential treatment centers, in a setting much more appropriate for middle school aged girls.
Asheville Academy creates a safe, supportive environment in which girls can gain experience, increase confidence, and learn to regulate their emotions. Their clinical model includes individual, family, group, and equine assisted therapy. Asheville Academy’s staff are highly qualified in dealing with various types of girls. They help young girls develop healthy academic, emotional, and physical habits to take with them through their lives.
Learn more about our therapeutic boarding school>>>
Academic Programming at Asheville Academy
Unlike many residential treatment centers and therapeutic boarding schools, Asheville Academy has an accredited academic program which caters specifically to each individual student’s learning style and academic needs. Often, girls come to us struggling in school because of learning disabilities or school refusal issues. Other girls come to us excelling in school. We meet girls where they are at.
Read more about academics at Asheville Academy here>>>
Big, beautiful campus
Our campus sits on nearly 100 acres of land and features multiple recreational facilities designed to help young girls become their happiest, healthiest selves. Our campus includes:
- Classroom buildings set away from residential environment which allows for a more “real world” academic experience.
- Dormitory buildings called “tree houses” which house eight students along with students. Read more here>>>
- A large dining hall
- A farm full of animals like mini-horses, pot belly pigs, kittens, chickens, goats and rabbits.
- 97 acres of trails where girls can hike and take part in adventure activities. Some of our students come from a wilderness therapy environment and are able to practice the skills they learned, such as bow drilling, on our primitive camp site within this space.
- 5 acre lake where aquatic sports such as swimming, paddle boarding, fishing, kayaking, and canoeing take place during the warmer months.
- A farm filled with adorable animals such as mini-horses, pot bellied pigs, chickens, kittens, and rabbits.
- Retreat room to get away from staff and students in order to regulate emotions.
- Two athletic fields
- Outdoor basketball
- A Gymnasium
- A Fire Pit
- A Dance and yoga studio
What are residential treatment centers?
Residential treatment centers (RTC) are inpatient medical programs that provide therapy for issues such as substance abuse, behavioral problems, and mental illnesses that require more comprehensive treatment than the average methods.
Residential Treatment Centers geared towards adolescents focus on treatment for disorders such as depression, ADHD, bipolar disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, and drug/alcohol abuse. Residential treatment centers assess an adolescent for his/her individual needs in order to give them the most effective and helpful treatment possible.
RTC Research
According to Dr. Richard D. Brodie, therapy within a residential treatment center “permits a more effective and comprehensive effort towards the final goal.” The final goal being the stabilization and growth of the client.
In a different study on the benefits of RTCs published in the Colgate University Journal of the Sciences, it was found that short-term, outpatient therapy is not as helpful as RTCs for youth with behavioral issues. In residential treatment centers, more extensive and accurate assessments can be done, there are more opportunities for therapeutic contact, and immediate care can be given in a situation. RTCs also have the advantage of having the ability to be multidisciplinary, making them more equipped to deal with different types of adolescents.
Three national studies on the effectiveness of women’s Residential Treatment Centers concluded that there was high success in treatment. Success rates were lower if the client did not complete the treatment, but if treatment was completed there was a 71 percent success rate.
Contemporary Articles
In 2013, after her attempted suicide, Paris Jackson moved from a hospital to a residential treatment center in order to recover with private and personalized therapy.
“This is a tragic thing, but it brought the whole family closer,” a source told US magazine. The residential treatment center was chosen by her mother, Debbie Rowe. After a month in treatment, Paris was photographed happy and well on her way to recovery.
RTC Defined By…
Wikiversity