Behavioral Issue

Outdoor therapy programs take a different approach than boot camps for teens with behavior problems by using nature as a guide to making healthier choices and empowering teens to gain insight into how their actions affect others. As many teens with behavior problems struggle with taking advice from authority figures and lack self-awareness necessary for…

Teenagers are known for mood swings, but sometimes their high highs and low lows may be more than just hormonal changes. It is hard to recognize bipolar disorder in teens when transient periods of moodiness are normalized.  Knowing the difference between bipolar disorder, depression, and teen mood swings is important in determining what treatment options…

The nature-nurture debate has sparked interest in recent years, as people have observed the impact of environmental factors in changing one’s behavior. Most psychologists argue that people’s experiences are shaped by both their nature and how they’ve been nurtured, rather than one or the other. As environmentalists have noted that the human mind is filled…

While there’s a difference between loneliness and spending time alone, loneliness is associated with participating in fewer meaningful activities with other people. It’s possible for people to find meaning in solitary activities, like creative expression or work, but most of these activities are available from the comfort of one’s own home. A recent study suggests…

Finding out that your child has been suspended from school can be difficult for any parent to hear, especially if it’s not their first time. Every school has a different system when it comes to what kind of behavior warrants suspension and what suspension will look like. Some schools may offer strikes or offer clean…

The teenage years are full of hormonal changes, desire to fit in, and peer pressures. This is a common period in which one gets invited to participate in risky behaviors such as consuming alcohol. Help for teen alcohol use can begin at home. However, the first step of helping is acknowledging that there is a…

 Sometimes it’s not “just a phase”. Often times, parents dismiss their teen’s behavior as part of a “phase”, but unfortunately it may be more than that. No one wants to think their child may be struggling with a deeper rooted issue that cannot be outgrown. But sometimes this may be the case and if so,…

For many families, the holidays mean making gingerbread cookies, building snowmen, relaxing by a warm fire, and spending time with family–but for some, it’s the opposite. For some, it means more stress, more arguments, more challenges. Most people don’t think about help for struggling teen boys and girls during the holidays, but it’s often desperately…

For many struggling families, school can be a seemingly insurmountable challenge. Being a student is a full-time job for a teenager and if your child feels like they are not successful and incapable of excelling academically, it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure if they’re not given the proper guidance. At Trails Carolina, we…

A disobedient teenager can be a huge challenge for parents. They won’t listen, nothing seems to be getting through to them, they’re acting out dangerously–and you don’t know what to do. You’re not alone. Many parents experience this hurdle, but there are a few ways to get over it. Some parents turn to anger and…