Rebuilding Family Connections

Family Involvement Improves Student Outcomes

Your child’s long-term success is predicated on the support, participation, and growth of the most important people in their life – family. A child that returns home to an unchanged family who hasn’t developed the skills to support their progress is far more likely to slip into well-worn, negative patterns of behavior. For this reason, we’ve developed a comprehensive wilderness therapy program for the entire family.

Weekly Calls with a Family Therapist

For healing to occur and positive change to last, there need to be changes made at the family level. You’ll work with our family therapist to set “big picture” goals, understand your child’s behavior, and build healthy strategies for communication.

Parent Skills Workshop

We want to provide you the toolkit necessary to sustain positive change, which is why we hold a parent workshop to teach you new skills to improve your relationship with your child.

Weekly Calls from your Child's Primary Therapist

Your child’s therapist will keep you up-to-date on their latest progress and remaining challenges throughout their time at Trails, so you can support their continued growth. During these calls, the family therapist provides information about parenting techniques and other skills that you can utilize with your child.

Weekly Zoom Classes For Parents

Each week via Zoom, we host a meditation/yoga class and a mindfulness class for current families. Our meditation and yoga class provides an opportunity for parents to learn meditation and yoga techniques while setting grounding intentions each week. The weekly mindfulness class is a wonderful opportunity for parents to exercise self-care and learn some of the skills their children will be practicing throughout the program.

Alumni Support Call

Alumni are invited to our alumni support Zoom call on the 2nd and 4th Mondays of each month to re-engage with the Trails community, share updates, and receive support from fellow alumni families.

24-Hour Family Graduation

When your child’s time at Trails is drawing to a close, you’ll attend a graduation ceremony along with other families, an ideal time to reunite with your child, practice new skills and tools together, and begin a successful transition.

Common Ground

We also offer an optional four-day extended stay option for the entire family, called Common Ground. Families stay in a lovely home and benefit from extended time together in a supported environment to begin using your new ways of communicating. It’s highly effective in helping students slowly and purposefully transition out of the environment of our Trails program and back into everyday life. Take A Virtual Tour of Our Common Ground House

Trails Truly Works

An improvement in social problems was observed in 76% of students ages 14-17 between starting Trails Carolina and one year after graduating.

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76%

Family Calls & Support

One of the core components of how we keep the family involved is the weekly call you’ll receive from your child’s Primary Therapist. This therapist will be able to share a more specific understanding of the progress your child is making, and what challenges still remain to be overcome.

We also believe that the weekly Family Support Calls are incredibly valuable, allowing you to connect with other Trails families who are facing similar challenges. Struggling with your child’s behavior can feel isolating, but you aren’t alone. Becoming connected with other families who have experienced similar emotions can provide tremendous relief, honest perspective, and hope for a brighter tomorrow.

Parent Workshop

A few weeks into your child’s stay, you’ll be able to attend a workshop that will help you learn the skills needed to support your child’s continued growth. After completion of the Workshop, you’ll be able to implement new tools to create a healthier family system.

Learn More About Family Involvement

Family Reunification

Your family will attend a family reunification/graduation experience led by our expert staff and licensed therapists. This is an opportunity to practice the new skills both you and your child have learned during their Trails Carolina experience and set the foundation for a healthier, more peaceful family dynamic.

Learn More About Family Programming

Common Ground

Common Ground is our optional four-day family program. This allows for bonding time and an intentional return to home life. Families who participate in Common Ground are supported through activities designed to practice communication skills, conflict resolution and strengthen communication.

Resources For Lasting Change

Family Resource Library

Trails offers an extensive library of audio / video resources available for parents to download on a variety of relevant topics. These can help you to better understand the dynamics at play within your family, the challenges teens face today, and what strategies are likely to help your child achieve long-term success.

Parental Guidebook

We understand that navigating the decision to send your child to any therapeutic treatment program isn’t easy, so we’ve developed a family guidebook that elaborates on our core values, as well as specific tasks and projects you can undertake during each stage of your child’s journey and other useful topics. Please call our Admissions Department at (800) 975-7303 for more info.