We have been pulling together data, for awhile now, to determine how Therapeutic boarding schools compared with the public school industry and the results have shown it to be a very safe place for kids who are at risk. One thing I thought was missing was a way to rate the individual schools to determine which are of a higher quality and which straddle the lower scale as far as safety and service. The National Association of Therapeutic schools and Programs (
NATSAP) has been , among other things, working to provide better options for teens and their parents who are struggling at home. Many people here on fornits as well as parents and previous students have been asking for the many schools to be regulated and have oversight. This has been circulating and I thought I would post it here also. Although it isnt a rating system NATSAP recently announced the following changes to their membership requirements:
Effective May 1, 2007, all programs applying for membership in
NATSAP must meet the following requirements:
1.
Licensure by the appropriate state agency authorized to set and oversee standards of therapeutic and/or behavioral healthcare for youth and adolescents or
accreditation by a mental health accreditation agency.
2. Therapeutic services with oversight by a
qualified clinician.
3.
Compliance with NATSAP Ethical Principles and NATSAP Principles of Good Practice (see
www.natsap.org).
We believe this will further raise the bar and makes another step in many towards a continuous process of improvement in the industry.
Parents who are considering a TBS or wilderness program should add
NATSAP to their list of research stops.
