The Trouble With Tough Love. It is the ultimate parental nightmare: Your affectionate child is transformed, seemingly overnight, into an out- of- control, drug- addicted, hostile teenager. Many parents blame themselves. The kids, meanwhile, hurtle through their own bewildering adolescent nightmare. My descent into drug addiction started in high school and now, as an adult, I have a much better understanding of my parents' anguish and of what I was going through. And, after devoting several years to researching treatment programs, I'm also aware of the traps that many parents fall into when they finally seek help for their kids.
At first glance, these programs, which are commonly based on a philosophy of . At the same time, during the '9. And there is little data to support these institutions' claims of success. Tough-Love Schools Are Both Loved, Hated. The mixed reviews of the tough-love programs have the attention of New York Attorney. Next (TOUGH LOVE philosophy) TOUGHLOVE was started in the 1970's by Phyllis and David York. TOUGHLOVE programs are available for Parents. There are several hundred public and private facilities - - both in the United States and outside the country - - but serving almost exclusively American citizens. Although no one officially keeps track, my research suggests that some 1. A patchwork of lax and ineffective state regulations - - no federal rules apply - - is all that protects these young people from institutions that are regulated like ordinary boarding schools but that sometimes use more severe methods of restraint and isolation than psychiatric centers. There are no special qualifications required of the people who oversee such facilities. Nor is any diagnosis required before enrollment. If a parent thinks a child needs help and can pay the $3,0. I have also spoken with numerous psychiatrists, psychologists, sociologists and juvenile justice experts. Of course there is a range of approaches at different institutions, but most of the people I spoke with agree that the industry is dominated by the idea that harsh rules and even brutal confrontation are necessary to help troubled teenagers. University of California at Berkeley sociologist Elliott Currie, who did an ethnographic study of teen residential addiction treatment for the National Institute on Drug Abuse, told me that he could not think of a program that wasn't influenced by this philosophy. Parents and teenagers involved with both state- run and private institutions have told me of beatings, sleep deprivation, use of stress positions, emotional abuse and public humiliation, such as making them dress as prostitutes or in drag and addressing them in coarse language. I've heard about the most extreme examples, of course, but the lack of regulation and oversight means that such abuses are always a risk. Advocates of these programs call the excesses tragic but isolated cases; they offer anecdotes of miraculous transformations to balance the horror stories; and they argue that tough love only seems brutal - - saying that surgery seems violent, too, without an understanding of its vital purpose. Research conducted by the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Justice tells a very different story from the testimonials - - one that has been obscured by myths about why addicts take drugs and why troubled teenagers act out. I took drugs compulsively because I hated myself, because I felt as if no one - - not even my family - - would love me if they really knew me. Drugs allowed me to blot out that depressive self- focus and socialize as though I thought I was okay. Why would being humiliated, once I'd given up the only thing that allowed me to feel safe emotionally, make me better? My problem wasn't that I needed to be cut down to size; it was that I felt I didn't measure up. My addiction probably could have been shortened if I'd thought I could have found care that didn't conform to what I knew was (and sadly, still is) the dominant confrontational approach. Tough Love Camps for Troubled Kids. For the past 1. 0 years, tough love camps have grown in tremendous popularity as a leading treatment for troubled children. These programs are based on experiential education and behavioral models and on the philosophy that in order to help someone in trouble, he needs to be treated sternly and harshly with the intent to help him or her in the long run. A teen boot camp is a prime example of a tough love camp. Modeled after military recruit training camps, teen boot camps employ military- style discipline, structure, and in- your- face trainers to rapidly instill control, compliance and obedience to its campers. Teen boot camps have successfully been used in treating troubled children; the camp’s rigid discipline, structure, and training have been noted to help children regain control of their lives, strengthen their spirit and resolve and break anger and defiant issues in them. Another type of tough love camp is the therapeutic youth camp, which more recently have been gaining in popularity as an alternative to boot camps. These camps employ a different treatment model that hardly has anything in common with teen boot camps. Therapeutic youth camps rely mainly on positive experience to elicit behavior change. Troubled kids are given or put into challenges and adversities that are therapeutic in nature and life enhancing and which they can learn lessons from it; an example would be helping build a fence around an orphanage or tree planting, or any similar activity which campers can learn lessons from. Since therapeutic youth camps do not employ military- style discipline and structure, there isn’t any in- your- face yelling. Campers are still subject to rigid discipline and will be challenged, encouraged and given every opportunity to succeed. Here are some examples of tough love camps for troubled kids: New Hope Wilderness Camp. New Hope Wilderness Camp is a Christian tough love wilderness camp designed to help troubled children ages 1. For 2. 1- days, the children will live on tents away from modern contrivances where reflection, chores, community activities, sports and recreation comprises the daily schedule. The feature activity is equine handling, and it is the focal point to facilitate behavioral changes. In the camp, the children will learn self discipline, accountability, trust and teamwork as well as learn the importance of stamina, endurance and personal fitness. New Hope Wilderness Camp accepts both male and female campers but it is not a co- ed program; campers are divided into separate programs according to gender. Midcourse Challenge Camp. Located in Otisville, Michigan, Midcourse offers the Challenge Camp program designed for troubled kids, with a primary objective of helping troubled children develop self- confidence, discipline, obedience and a higher concern for the effect their choices have on themselves as well as others. The Challenge Camp’s goal is to be a preventative wake up call for youth that are on a self- destructive path. The program is a 4. There are also seminars and break out sessions in between the activities. Camp Consequence. Camp Consequence is a tough love wilderness camp located in Jacksonville, Florida. Like most wilderness program, the campers live in tents away from modern contrivances that may provide distraction. There will be no TV, computers, phones, air conditioning, and even no running water or bathrooms or comfortable beds. There isn’t even pillow except for a sleeping bag. In Camp Consequence, campers are taught humility and grace in the face of hardships while also learning to appreciate the things they have at home. They are taught discipline and obedience as well as teamwork and cohesiveness with others. Camp Consequence is a “tough love wilderness camp” program for children and teenagers ages 6 to 1.
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