Treatment For Girls Struggling With Behavioral Challenges
Many treatment programs for teenage girls with behavioral problems exist. Though there are many, not all are created equally. Depression, anxiety, behavioral problems, and ADHD treatment that fits your daughter perfectly is hard to find.
Schools for troubled girls, programs for troubled teenagers, and at-risk teen programs, all need to hold multiple important qualities to guarantee your child’s success and be effective. A few of these qualities are well-trained staff, licensed mental health professionals, and a nurturing environment; Trails Carolina has all of these.
What Makes Trails Carolina Different?
We offer evidence-based, trauma-informed treatment for girls ages 10-17 who are struggling with various issues, such as ADHD, depression, anxiety, among other challenges. When our students graduate from our program, they will have the ability to face future obstacles with healthier coping mechanisms and tools.
At Trails Carolina our staff is certified, licensed, and trained to support boys and girls youth who struggle with various mental health and behavioral challenges. Unlike other residential treatment centers for girls with behavioral problems, we utilize a holistic and research-based treatment program that allows us to create personalized, integrated treatment plans for our students in a unique wilderness setting.
Trails Carolina is a wilderness therapy program for struggling adolescents, ages 10-17. We specialize in treating each individual with the utmost care and working with each family to elicit true change in behavioral problems. Our focus on relationships and family is one of the many aspects that separates us from other programs for at-risk teens.
We understand that each adolescent is different and that we cannot put a “one size fits all” therapeutic plan. Our wilderness therapy program gives struggling teens the opportunity to distance themselves from daily stressors, such as social media, and reevaluate their behavior in a more neutral setting. We then utilize a transition model in which we help empower students to apply their new coping mechanisms, communication tools, and healthy behaviors in real-world situations like home and school.
Our Residential Program Groups
At Trails Carolina, we provide a supportive, healthy environment for a variety of age groups to receive treatment for various behavioral and mental health issues. Our residential therapy programs include options for preteen boys (10-13), preteen girls (10-13), teen girls (14-17), and teen boys (14-17).
Wilderness Therapy for Boys 10-13
Wilderness Therapy for Girls 10-13
Wilderness Therapy for Girls 14-17
Wilderness Therapy for Boys 14-17
We believe that segmenting groups by age and gender allows our team of mental health professionals, residential and field staff, and accredited academic educators to provide more focused and effective personalized care to each student. Additionally, evidence shows that using segmented peer groups helps students learn to build positive relationships among their own peers. This makes the transition back to traditional school settings easier for young people. And it helps our students learn how to interact and build healthy connections for life!
Here's What Sets Us Apart From Other Behavioral Treatment Programs For Girls:
Licensed and Experienced Clinical Staff: At Trails Carolina, one of the leading teenage intervention programs, our clinical staff have immense experience working with struggling adolescents. They also are very familiar with giving behavioral problems like depression, anxiety, and ADHD in girls' treatment. We are also a licensed Wilderness Therapy program.
Family Therapy: You cannot just simply treat the child when it comes to these types of behavioral problems. The whole family has been impacted in these situations, which is why we work to connect the family in the treatment plan.
Equine Programming: In our program, we use horses in a safe environment as a way to teach girls and boys social cues and natural consequences. Working with horses requires communication skills, which allows our students to work on these areas.
Nurturing Environment: At Trails, we transition back and forth between being in the wilderness to base camp to allow our girls and boys to get comfortable with different situations and transitions. We work to make our home for troubled girls an environment in which adolescents can grow in a healthy way.
Building Resilience Through Wilderness Therapy
Our programming is designed around transitions and healing the entire family. We want your child to practice their newfound skills in a variety of challenging environments, building resilience that will allow them to easily carry these positive behaviors into the real world. At the same time, it’s important that you as a parent are empowered with new approaches to support your child’s success.
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Contact us today to learn how Trails Carolina can help your family
Trails saved my daughter’s life. Amanda is an amazing human and a brilliant therapist. I am so grateful to her, Science Steve, and the other wonderful people who could reach my daughter at a time when I could not.
Margot Lowman August 2022
Great life changing experience for our son. After becoming addicted to gaming during covid he was very depressed. At Trails he experienced the wilderness, Science Steve, learning survival skills and top notch therapy and support etc… I highly recommend! This gave our son and our family a renewed family bond full of love and excitement about his bright future.
Winnifred Wilson July 2022
Outstanding clinical work and superb staff! There’s a great culture at this company and it shows with how they engage with families/clients.
Kristin Brace June 2022
F.A.Q.’S
Being immersed in nature and away from all distractions allows for teens to have the opportunity to disconnect from the world and reconnect with themselves.
They can grow, learn, and not just survive, but thrive in the real world. Trails Carolina offers many benefits of wilderness therapy, including:
Personal, reflective growth: While at Trail Carolina, teens have the opportunity to better understand themselves.
This transformation, which takes place in the backdrop of the Blue Ridge Mountains can help them to be better about knowing themselves, understanding others and how their actions, words, and lives can impact others.
In the wilderness, these teens are allowed to take a step back, reflect and see the world from another’s point of view without any distractions.
Transferable life skills: Not only do teens learn hard such as how to pitch a tent, how to build and keep a fire going, as well as how to navigate through the wilderness, they also learn valuable life lessons which are transferable to the real world. Some of these include leadership, teamwork, respect, responsibility, and self-awareness.
Individualized therapeutic and academic programming: Individualized therapeutic programming is the crux of why Trails Carolina works so well. When the academics and therapy are specific to an individual, it creates an environment that is personalized which enhances learning.
Teens struggling with defiance may have different therapeutic methods for dealing with this than other teens who may be struggling with different problems such as anxiety.
Family-focused programming: One of the ultimate goals of Trails Carolina is helping to repair the family unit. While their son or daughter is away in the wilderness, some programs offer family therapy sessions that help both the parents and the siblings work through problems which the family has been struggling with.
When the focus is brought back to the family, it can ensure lasting change when the child transitions home from a therapeutic program.
“You must do the thing you think you cannot do” – Eleanor Roosevelt
If your son or daughter is struggling with behavioral, emotional, or mental health issues like defiance, anxiety, or depression and it has started to impact their day to day lives, now is the time to examine possible options for treatment for your teen.
Wilderness therapy programs, which are inpatient mental health treatment programs, can help child or teen explore what is troubling them, why they are acting out, and how they can better relate to their family and friends.
Removing teens from their hectic lives, technology, peers, bad habits, distractions, and influences is one of the many reasons why wilderness therapy programs work.
The best wilderness therapy programs offer an array of therapeutic techniques including, but not limited to equine relational programming, cognitive behavioral therapy, family therapy, group therapy, individual therapy, and mindfulness techniques.
Wilderness therapy programs accept students on a case by case basis. The selection usually depends upon the clinical programing of wilderness therapy programs and the behaviors exhibited by a potential student.
Some programs may accept teens dealing with more clinically complex issues while others chose to focus on students with more easily managed difficulties.
That being said, most all wilderness therapy programs provide therapeutic programming for struggling teens with behavior problems and emotional difficulties including:
Neurodevelopmental Disorders- These include Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Nonverbal Learning Disorder, or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
School refusal- Many teens entering wilderness therapy programs are struggling with school refusal problems. Which is why wilderness therapy programs are great for treating teens who refuse school, who are frequently truant, or even suspended.
Substance experimentation or use– While most wilderness therapy programs deal with substance abuse in some degree, there are some wilderness therapy programs which are specified to help treat teens who are struggling with substance use issues, whether that be alcohol or marijuana use.
Defiance– Whether this is disruptive behavior in school and at home, wilderness therapy programs can help get to the root of these problems and address these issues in teens. This may also include Oppositional Defiance Disorder.
Anxiety– Social anxiety or generalized anxiety disorder can be crippling for teens. It inhibits their functionality around peers, in the classroom, at work and with their family. Many wilderness programs provide help for teens struggling with some form of anxiety.
Depression– Depression can be tough, especially with teens which is why wilderness therapy programs offer therapeutic help to teens who are struggling with this.
We offer programs designed for pre-teens ages 10-13 and adolescents ages 13-17. Our clinically proven methods work exceptionally well with:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Family conflict
- Low self-esteem
- Trauma
- Social isolation
- Self-harm
- Suicide ideation
- Adoption
- Defiant behavior/Oppositional Defiant Disorder
- Gaming and technology obsession
- Substance abuse
- Attachment issues
- Manipulative behavior
- Poor academic achievement
- Learning differences
- School refusal
- ADHD
- Mood dysregulation
- Autism (high functioning)
We are passionate about helping students overcome challenges and reach their full potential, and committed to creating the most effective wilderness therapy program possible for students and their families. Our entire team is honored to dedicate their professional lives to changing the lives of troubled teens.
The average stay at our wilderness therapy program is 70-90 days.
Trails Carolina is not a traditional summer camp. Instead, it is a wilderness therapy program that is designed to help at-risk youth overcome challenges and build the skills needed to achieve long-term success.
The program combines traditional therapeutic interventions with outdoor activities and wilderness experiences, such as hiking, camping, and team-building exercises, to create a unique and immersive experience.
Students at Trails Carolina receive individualized care and attention, with small group sizes and personalized treatment plans.
Our program is offered year-round! The program is typically longer than a summer camp and can last from several weeks to several months, depending on the needs and progress of each student and family.
While participants in Trails Carolina can benefit from the same sense of adventure and connection to nature that is often associated with summer camps, the program is specifically designed to provide therapeutic interventions and support for at-risk youth.
After graduating from our wilderness treatment center, students will typically transition back home or to a step down type residential program (Therapeutic Boarding School or Residential Treatment Center, as examples).
Parents have multiple weekly touchpoints at the program. There is a separate program specifically designed for the involvement of the family.
We also provide in-person opportunities during a student’s time at trails for families to get on campus and do work with their child. We have some of the highest-rated family services within the industry.
91% of students showed improvement in extremely significant symptoms of depression, 12 months after graduation.
Learn more: Does wilderness therapy work?
91% of students showed improvement in extremely significant symptoms of anxiety, 12 months after graduation.
Learn more: Treatment For Anxiety In Teens: How Wilderness Therapy Can Help
79% of students reported experiencing a decrease in suicidal thoughts, 12 months after graduation.