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An open discussion about the troubled parent industry

Educational Consultants

Independent educational consultants are professionals who assist students and families with educational decision making. The advantages of a parent using an independent educational consultant are they:

    1.) are on the side of the parent and the child.
    2.) are skilled and experienced in matching a child's needs with the strengths of schools and programs.
    3.) have personally visited many of the schools.
    4.) know the facts behind the brochures.
    5.) are part of a nation-wide network they can tap into.
    6.) can save parents money by helping them avoid common "mistakes."
    7.) are often parents themselves, so they have "been there."

Following are several Educational Consultants who specialize in helping parents find appropriate places for children with behavioral and/or emotional problems.

Susan Grossi, MEd, MA, MFT
Member: IECA
Mesia Kempton
Associate
E-mail
http://www.susangrossi.com

Susan Grossi & Associates, Inc.
Phone 888-246-0039
Fax 949-654-7825

Irvine Office
2082 Michelson Dr, Suite 100
Irvine, CA 92612

http://www.strugglingteens.com/wric/WhatToExpect.htm

What To Expect From An Educational Consultation

Woodbury Reports Educational Consultants work for the families that hire us.

Parents hire us to help represent them in making critical educational decisions. Our consultants professionally research all appropriate options before giving advice.

By thoroughly interviewing the family, communicating with professionals and researching all options, Woodbury Consultants are able to narrow down the options to the most appropriate schools or programs.

The consultant will discuss the pros and cons of each of their recommendations and explain options to the family. Placement decisions rest solely on the family.

Utilizing a multi-disciplinary team of experts in the private, parent-choice network, Woodbury Consultants are able to work with a wide range if issues.

Woodbury Reports Client Ethics:

    We treat each client as our only client and are available for follow up issues after our consultations.
    We respect the unique challenges of each client.
    We honor our client's confidentiality.
    Our fees are reasonable and flexible.
    We work only with companies who have a strong sense of mission and posses impeccable ethics.

http://www.strugglingteens.com/wric/index.html

Woodbury Reports, Inc. was founded in November 1989, by Lon Woodbury, MA, IECA, CEP, as an Independent Educational Consulting firm to help parents of teens making poor decisions select a private, parent choice program that would help return the family to normalcy. Lon had worked as the admissions director at the CEDU program, Rocky Mountain Academy, in Bonners Ferry, Idaho, and decided that he could better help parents find the most appropriate placement for their at-risk children if he was independent.

Woodbury Reports has helped hundreds of families over the years. We understand each child is different and has individual needs, strengths, and interests. Through interviews with parents, communication with professionals who know your child well, and then thoroughly researching viable options, we can help parents make the right choices that will help your child get back on the right path.

   The mission of Woodbury Reports Inc. is to empower parents by providing the best quality advice possible in helping parents make good decisions regarding their struggling teen.

Woodbury consultants are experienced professionals who come from a variety of disciplines. This allows our consultants to review each placement from a variety of perspectives, thus providing a wide range of input before recommendations are made. Our team is led by Lon Woodbury, the founder of Woodbury Reports, which is the leading newsletter for the nation’s network of Parent Choice Schools and Programs, and Dr. Larry Stednitz, Ph.D., who has well over 40 years as a program administrator and educational consultant. The other members of the team are: Loi Eberle, a masters level educator with 10 years experience as a consultant, Linda Zimmerman who is a nationally recognized specialist in attachment disorders and adoption issues, and Steve Migden, Ph.D., a licensed and board certified psychologist who is an expert in both learning and emotional/behavioral problems. Dr. Stednitz serves as the team coordinator.

http://www.strugglingteens.com/artman/p ... 0104.shtml
Supporting The Adolescent Rite Of Passage
by Mary Flora, MBA, MA, LPC, LCAS
Primary Therapist
Trails Carolina
Lake Toxaway, NC
888-387-2457
[email protected]

Clinical symptoms exhibited by teens are a call for transformation. The instinctual drive to find meaning in life produces seeking behaviors that look for fulfillment. This instinct appears in archetypal patterns easily recognizable in any family constellation; the pleaser/co-dependent, the victim, the hero/heroine, the saboteur, the scapegoat, the addict, the perfectionist, the prostitute, the sloth and so on. The urge to transform carries a paradoxical force of energy responsible for both the forward drive hidden in the unconscious as well as its own declining regressive action. This tension appears necessary in creating emotional discomfort that leads to unrest, cognitive dissonance, and a subsequent call to action. When the hidden instinctual drive to move forward releases energy, it filters into consciousness resulting in a moment of clarity, or a cognitive shift causing one to pay attention, feel inspired or motivated. An environment that creates opportunities for individual transformation is critical to supporting the adolescent developmental process that requires the creation of an identity of their own.

A regressive tendency and the opposing call to renewal is a story common to all and a storyline often accompanying adolescence. The adolescent is torn between a need for parental guidance and the developmental pull toward establishing a sense of personal authority. The parent's role is to stand in the middle of the two opposing forces and hold the tension of the opposites, not an easy task. Wilderness is one such environment worthy of supporting the adolescent in the psychological call to action. Nature provides the perfect backdrop for self discovery and a challenging environment for the shift in consciousness that is often sought in adolescence.

Working with teens in a wilderness environment is an honor and a privilege and requires special care to guide them through the conflicting and often self defeating messages they receive in today's culture. Placing teens in a wilderness environment affords them the opportunity to strip away cultural stereotypes and distractions that have thwarted their attempts at forming a positive self image. The passage from childhood into young adulthood requires formal markers and acknowledgment of the need to transform as still present in the modern adolescent psyche. This rite is essential to psychological health even though the cultural constructs needed to positively support this passage are absent (Frankel, 1998). The literal practice of initiation has ceased, but still may be influencing the psychology of adolescence. If positive cultural constructs to initiate are missing, the adolescent will be left to his or her own devices to act out this ritual in whatever way the culture is demanding as the appropriate ideal to attain. Drug use, eating disorders and cutting become habitual and ritualistic, oppositional attitudes, promiscuity and violence mimic what can be seen on reality TV and the internet. These behaviors become the unconscious treatment plan in an attempt to meet the cultural expectation of what is ideal.

An important question to consider is how the absence of the rite to initiate is influencing adolescents and in what way is this absence causing psychological stress in the maturation process and becoming a self destructive narrative for teens.

Personal authority is the ability to validate one's own thoughts and actions as good and true. It develops gradually as others recognize and communicate the value of one's ideas and contributions, both for the family and for the larger social group. Society designates authority symbolically by conferring decision-making influence, social status, and power over material resources. (Young-Eisendrath & Wiedemann, 1987, p. 1)

The therapeutic wilderness experience is one that validates, contributes to the adolescent rite to initiate in an empowering way, and offers decision-making influence in a peer society while fostering transformation as the agent for personal change and renewal.

References:
Frankel, R. (1998). The adolescent psyche. New York, NY: Routledge.
Young-Eisendrath, P. & Wiedemann, F. (1987). Female authority: Empowering women through psychotherapy. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.

Trails Carolina is a comprehensive therapeutic wilderness program for ages 10 - 17 in the tranquil North Carolina Mountains. Specifically developed to address the "whole child" our proven methods and clinical therapies help change troubling behavior, guide adolescents up new paths of self awareness, lead families toward reunification, and healing and re-engage students in appreciation of academic challenge and learning.

Memorial Hermann Prevention & Recovery Center http://parc.memorialhermann.org


Nationally Recognized Treatment for Drug and Alcohol Abuse

"I repeatedly state that the time I spent at "PaRC" saved my life and everything I hold dear and close to my heart. Without the PaRC, I would be in a dark and miserable place; that is, if I was still alive at all."

Laine W., PaRC Alumnus

Memorial Hermann Prevention & Recovery Center ("PaRC") is a twelve-step based alcohol and drug rehab center for adults and teenagers. We have a 29 year history of successfully treating drug & alcohol addiction by helping our patients and their families understand and manage the disease of addiction. PaRC helps thousands of individuals just like you and our confidential treatment programs continue to grow year after year. Our programs are recognized and respected. Some of our most recent distinctions include:  

  -  2011 NAATP Quality Improvement Award
   - 2011 Memorial Hermann President's Cup Award
  -  2010 The Joint Commission National "Gold Seal" Accreditation
   - 2010 NAADAC Organizational Achievement Award
   - 2009 Memorial Hermann Gold Circle Award
   - 2008 Memorial Hermann President's Cup Award

Eye-Opening Facts About Drug & Alcohol Addiction


It can be hard to believe, but people do not choose to become addicted to drugs or alcohol. Addiction is a serious, complex disease that gets worse over time if appropriate treatment is not received. It is not simply a "bad habit". And addiction can affect anyone regardless of their educational background, intelligence level, financial status, age, gender, race, religion, morals or how much willpower they have. Studies show that most people with substance abuse problems are ordinary citizens such as working professionals, housewives, young adults, teens, seniors and other individuals living in our communities. Drug and alcohol addiction is also more common than most people realize. According to the 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, an estimated 23 million Americans aged 12 or older are illicit drug users and 76 million are either binge or heavy drinkers. You are not alone with this disease. Effective treatment and compassionate care are available at PaRC.


How PaRC Can Help You


Untreated addiction is a downward spiral with tragic consequences. PaRC's programs teach you the necessary tools and valuable skills you need to stop the cycle of addiction in your life. Our growing expertise, combined with our longevity in the community, enables us to constantly refine and customize our treatment strategies. At PaRC's drug and alcohol abuse treatment center, we offer a variety of services critical for establishing long-term sobriety including detox, inpatient rehab, outpatient rehab, 90-day rehab, aftercare program and more. You don't have to suffer with the effects of this disease. PaRC can help you manage this disease and keep your life, family, health and career intact. Remember, treatment at PaRC is confidential. Speak with a friendly PaRC representative at 713-939-7272 to learn more about how our highly respected treatment center in Houston, Texas can help you.

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