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Enrolling your teen into a residential treatment program is often a difficult decision, but sometimes the necessary one to protect their health and safety.
Residential centers are the highest level of inpatient care, providing 24/7 support in a facility that focuses on acute stabilization and intensive daily support to help teens recover from substance abuse and/or mental health disorders.
Read on to understand if your teen could benefit from residential treatment and how to make the right decision when choosing a program.
What To Know About Residential Treatment for Teens
Residential treatment is a form of inpatient treatment and the highest level of care. Teens who struggle with drug and alcohol addiction, co-occurring mental health disorders, and acute mental health crises often require residential to get stabilized, process emotional distress, modify behaviors, and develop a positive support system.
Residential teen treatment programs offer 24-hour care in a campus-style center, rather than a hospital setting. Some residential facilities are exclusively for mental health disorders, while others are designed for substance abuse and co-occurring disorders.
Some common mental health challenges that require residential treatment include:
- Eating disorders
- Suicidal ideation or self-harm
- Psychosis
- Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) or Conduct Disorder (CD)
- Complex trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Attention-Deficit/Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD)
Signs Your Teen May Need More Intensive Support
Millions of teens struggle with their mental health each day. However, a majority of them do not require residential treatment. If your teen is struggling with mood swings, episodes of anxiety, isolation, restlessness, or changes in sleep and appetite, they can usually benefit from outpatient therapy, medication, and lifestyle changes.
However, if your teen is showing signs of substance abuse or a severe mental health crisis that poses a risk to themselves or others, a higher level of support is often needed.
Signs of Substance Abuse
- Finding drugs or alcohol in their room/belongings
- Coming home visibly drunk or high
- Dilated/pinpoint pupils or red, glossy eyes
- Unexplained flu-like symptoms such as fever, nausea, vomiting, sore throat, runny nose
- Drastic changes in personality, aggression, violent outbursts, paranoia
- Finding paraphernalia such as lighters, empty liquor bottles, pipes, empty pill containers, needles, melted spoons, bent or dirty keycards, IDs or credit cards, or small baggies
Signs of Mental Health Crisis That Require Residential Treatment
- Self-harm behaviors (cutting, burning, neglecting to eat)
- Severe recklessness (unsafe sex, running away, drug use, reckless driving)
- Attacking peers or teachers, picking fights, physical assault
- Violence or threats, especially toward family members
- Threatening suicide, making suicide notes, giving away belongings
- Theft, vandalism, arson, or repeated legal issues
- Psychosis (hallucinations, delusions, paranoia)
- Catatonic depression (inability to move, speak, or perform basic tasks)
Comparing Residential and Day Treatment Programs
Day treatment programs (also known as Partial Hospitalization Programs or PHP) are an intensive form of daily treatment, similar to residential, except that youth return to their homes in the evening. Below is a program comparison chart that gives a general overview of the differences between residential and day treatment programs.
| Residential vs PHP Day Treatment | Residential | PHP Day Treatment |
| Level of Care | Highest level of care | High-intensity, step-down from residential |
| Schedule | 24/7 | Usually meet 5x a week, for 6 hours a day |
| Location | In a residential treatment facility or inpatient rehab | Can take place in a residential facility, mental health or community health center, hospital, or outpatient center |
| Ideal For | Teens who require acute stabilization and around-the-clock care, or do not have a safe, stable, and supportive environment for recovery | Teens recently discharged from residential or in acute need of stabilization |
| Therapies Offered | Weekly or daily individual therapies (CBT, DBT, EMDR), group therapy, family therapy | Same as residential |
| Accommodations Offered | Residential includes accommodations such as room and board, meals, access to fitness centers, and recreational activities | Therapeutic outings and activities, but no room and board |
| Academic Support | Yes, academic support is built into the schedule | Same as residential |
| Family Involvement | Family therapy, visitor days, events for loved ones | Family therapy available, and resources for parents |
What Makes A Great Teen Treatment Program
Effective adolescent treatment programs tailor treatment to meet the unique developmental needs of growing teens. Therapies in a teen program may be tweaked in their approach compared to adult therapies. Recreational activities, life skills workshops, and academic support are also key components of teen residential programs.
Therapies Tailored For Adolescents
Therapists who specialize in teen mental health understand that adolescence is a time for significant physical, social, psychological, and emotional changes. Teens often have several different factors influencing their mental health at once. These might include hormones and puberty, childhood trauma, genetic vulnerabilities, victims of bullying, discrimination, or domestic violence, and academic pressure.
Evidence-based therapies like CBT, DBT, and EMDR help teens explore the underlying challenges that drive addiction, reframe negative thought patterns, set goals, and develop positive coping skills. Group therapy and peer support groups help teens connect with others their own age who are experiencing similar struggles, fostering a sense of mutual understanding and community.
Teen residential treatment programs also offer a range of experiential therapies and recreational activities such as art therapy, music therapy, and adventure therapies (camping, hiking, kayaking). These provide real-world situations for teens to practice essential skills such as communication, teamwork, problem-solving, and resilience.
Emphasis On Life Skills
Throughout residential treatment, teens participate in classes and workshops to build essential life skills for adulthood, independence, and positive mental well-being. Some life skills that teens might learn in residential include:
- Time Management: Using a calendar or planner, learning to prioritize or say no, creating a to-do list, organizing tasks like homework and extracurricular activities
- Chores and Home Maintenance: Laundry, dishes, setting a table, helping out with pets, changing a lightbulb, changing batteries, resetting the circuit breaker
- Transportation: Using maps or GPS, public transit routes, basic car maintenance like checking oil and changing a tire
- Basic Cooking: Using the stove or oven, safe knife use, boiling water, frying an egg, sautéing vegetables
- First Aid: CPR, treating burns, Heimlich maneuver, using an EpiPen, recognizing stroke signs, bleeding control
- Financial Literacy: Basics of saving and investing, using a debit card or ATM
Academic Success and Support
Most residential programs last several weeks to months. Teens are removed from their environments to focus on treatment. Research shows teens in out-of-home care risk falling behind in school [1]. Effective programs provide academic support to stay on track:
- Regular communication with schools and counselors
- Providing reading and writing materials
- Access to computer labs
- Development of an Individualized Education Plan (IEP)
- Case management to help with school reintegration
Teen Residential Treatment for Substance Abuse and Mental Health in Texas
Clearfork Academy is a residential treatment center for teens with 24/7 supervision, helping youth recover from substance abuse disorders, mental health disorders, and other life challenges.
We provide around-the-clock care and support to help stabilize teens on their journey toward safety, health, and success. We offer evidence-based treatments such as CBT, DBT, and EMDR and strive to educate parents about youth mental health.
Contact our admissions team today to see how we can support your family.
Sources
[1] Goulet, J. 2024. Supporting academic achievement of children in out-of-home care through effective interventions. Journal of Children and Youth Services Review.
Founder & CEO
Originally from the Saginaw, Eagle Mountain area, Austin Davis earned a Bachelor of Science in Pastoral Ministry from Lee University in Cleveland, TN and a Master of Arts in Counseling from The Church of God Theological Seminary. He then went on to become a Licensed Professional Counselor-Supervisor in the State of Texas.
Austin’s professional history includes both local church ministry and clinical counseling. At a young age, he began serving youth at the local church in various capacities which led to clinical training and education. Austin gained a vast knowledge of mental health disorders while working in state and public mental health hospitals. This is where he was exposed to almost every type of diagnosis and carries this experience into the daily treatment.
Austin’s longtime passion is Clearfork Academy, a christ-centered residential facility focused on mental health and substance abuse. He finds joy and fulfillment working with “difficult” clients that challenge his heart and clinical skill set. It is his hope and desire that each resident that passes through Clearfork Academy will be one step closer to their created design.
Austin’s greatest pleasures in life are being a husband to his wife, and a father to his growing children. He serves at his local church by playing guitar, speaking and helping with tech arts. Austin also enjoys being physically active, reading, woodworking, and music.
