My daughter is neither teen nor struggling, but I do have a friend of a friend stuck in one of these programs, and one of the problems is that the teen's adult friends all believe the *mother* is a fruit loop---and mistrust her to pick a good program. The program has been in a squabble with state child protective services without complying. The program cuts off the child's mail to and from non-family as a matter of routine. The program has been alleged by a former cook to use adequate nutrition as a "reward" the child has to earn.
If you want a good program, copy Outward Bound and have the girls given good training and good equipment in the outdoor recreations they'll be taking on, do nothing to break the girls down---the confidence and expanded worldview from solving the solvable physical challenges of hiking, camping, etc. was what did the good in that program. Be careful with your hires and open with where the fees go---another poster has offered good advice.
Do not interfere with the girls' incoming or outgoing mail. Do not tell the family and friends that all the girls are liars when/if they complain about the program. Do not assume the girls are lying to you or their parents if they complain about your staff. Investigate each allegation as if the girl *may* be telling the truth, even though *some* of your participants will probably be manipulative and dishonest, if an employee is telling you *all* of them are----get rid of that employee.
Do not promise miraculous results. Get a good licensed psychyatrist to teach your staff about Stockholm Syndrome and PTSD and how to *avoid* inducing them. Get a good licensed psychiatrist to teach your staff about warning signs for serious mental illness and *either* get such girls out of your program *or* see that they get treatment from a qualified, *licensed* professional and make reports of dates and times of regular appointments with that licensed professional to the parents.
Have the MMPI administered to each girl entering your program so that you can identify if she has underlying serious problems. Have each girl entering your program get a physical from a doctor before the program begins so you are aware of any underlying medical conditions.
Have all of your staff read and pass a test on a good post-mind-control book like _Releasing the Bonds_ (forget the author's name). It should help them learn and understand what *not* to do. Do not tolerate use of mind control tactics by your staff members. Do not force the girls to engage in psychotherapy or any facsimile thereof--group encounter sessions, rap sessions, whatever---do not force them to "open up" their personal feelings to each other or your staff. Allow them the dignity of the privacy of their own minds if they choose to preserve it, with *no* rewards for opening up or consequences for not. Not even approval/disapproval from the staffer---and the staffer needs to know to step on approval/disapproval of therapy-like participation by a girl's peers in the program.
You will not achieve apparent miracles in your graduates this way----but you will *also* not have Stockholm Syndrome and its aftereffects showing up in your graduates years down the road, and you will have long-term positive results from the girls' experiences of success overcoming wilderness challenges (climbing a mountain, crossing a stream, putting up a tent)---you want to set them up to succeed and build on each success with a new achievable challenge---and have your staff trained to prompt them when and only when necessary so that they *do* succeed, but are responsible themselves for as much of the success as possible.
Your good results come from the experience of success as part of a team, at real challenges, but if they start to fail, you have to have the staff intervene with *just enough* help to get them over the hump.
You won't get miraculous "too good to be true" results, but you will get modest *permanent* and non-damaging results in most girls.
Julie Cochrane
BS, Psychology, Georgia Tech, 1990
