For parents, watching their teen struggling with mental health problems or substance abuse can be one of the most grueling experiences they face. It can be devastating to monitor the child they once knew so well as they undergo a metamorphosis into a rebellious, unhappy, and sometimes unpleasant individual. Moreover, they often return a well-meaning parent’s attempt to help with venom and hate, tearing a rift in family unity and breaking hearts.
While many might view a treatment center as a last resort, there is a limitation to what parents, friends, and family members can do, especially when things turn volatile and lives are at risk. Many teens under the influence of severe depression, drugs, and other debilitating factors view attempts to send them away for treatment as a betrayal, a desire to ship them off, so parents do not have to deal with their behavior any longer.
In reality, treatment centers such as Polaris teen treatment center are healthy places full of highly-qualified professionals specifically trained to help your teen during this challenging period of life. They offer a lifeline to struggling adolescents, allowing them to cope with their problems and find answers that will set them back on the course to a healthy, productive lifestyle.
When Should I Consider a Treatment Center?
It is easy to downplay symptoms or hope that the teen is going through a phase that will end at some point, returning the child to the ideal state you remember. However, this lack of action can prove a grave mistake, especially when the underlying symptoms escalate to the point where someone is likely to get hurt, often the teen themselves.
While there is nothing wrong with trying to work through the issues with the help of family and friends, there are a few indicators that it is time to advance treatment to a professional level.
Here are some warning signs that it may be time to pursue a treatment center:
- Your child is not responding well to your attempts to help, and the situation is escalating.
- Both parents and family have significant responsibilities that interfere with your ability to take the necessary time to provide additional support for the child.
- Multiple factors are at play, such as one or more mental health issues and substance abuse.
- The child has begun discussing self-harm and commenting on their own death.
- Your teen is beginning to face severe consequences for their actions.
- Safety has become a serious concern for the child, parents, others that come into contact with the child, or all of the above.
- Your child expresses a desire to receive professional help for their challenges.
- The teen has participated in various outpatient services and has enjoyed limited or no success.
- The adolescent experiences rapidly declining academic performance and grades, severe mood changes, physical changes such as sudden weight loss or gain, sudden aggression, and other symptoms but will not open up to you or let you help.
There are many indicators of anxiety, depression, substance abuse, or other challenges that may influence your child’s behavior. Still, once the situation reaches hazardous levels where those involved face real danger, it is time to seek professional assistance. After all, most parents are not trained to treat substantial and long-term problems, and even those with the best intentions can only do so much.
What Can a Treatment Center Do?
Treatment centers provide a haven for a teen, away from the distractions, fears, anxiety, and temptations of life. Their populations include mental health and substance abuse professionals who care about children and have spent considerable periods of time learning techniques and treatment avenues to provide quality care plans for them.
Here are some ways a treatment center can help your teen:
A Population of Peers
Sometimes being alone or feeling like no one understands them is a reason why teens struggle to resolve their issues. A breach rapidly forms between children and parents as the teen feels like, as adults, the parents can never understand what they are going through or don’t care enough to help.
However, a treatment center is full of others, like your teen, who are dealing with similar challenges. Sometimes these children form connections — bonds that can help with the recovery process.
At times, these relationships are so strong that they serve as a strong foundation once treatment is over – fellow survivors who have endured a harrowing experience and can bolster each other to keep from falling into a recurring cycle.
If nothing else, other youths are available where your child can express themselves and talk candidly about what they are going through in a way they may not feel comfortable doing with adults.
Professional Evaluations
Determining the root cause of a teen’s problem can be challenging. At these centers, experts will perform a series of evaluations designed to determine what underlying issues may have led to the problem or may factor into their occurrences.
Proper evaluation is necessary to design a suitable treatment plan customized to meet your child’s needs.
A Fresh Environment
When a teen is immersed in their natural environment, many “lives” come into play: home life, family life, academic life, social life – the list goes on. In many cases, some aspects of these many lives play a role in the challenges your teen is facing and can add fuel to the fire while you are trying to smother the flames.
Out of that hectic environment, not only are teens away from any stimuli that may be encouraging negative behavior or mental health problems, they are in a specified environment designed for wellness. This mini-vacation can prove therapeutic, but more importantly, it provides professionals an opportunity to form their own opinions about the teen and their issues without the influence of outside forces.
Academic Assistance
An unfortunate casualty of health and wellness struggles tends to be academic performance. During their time in a treatment center, teens will receive assistance to help them get back on track with their schoolwork and learning. This is an excellent side effect as it gives them a safe, judgment-free environment to continue their education.
Care Plans
Naturally, the most significant way a treatment center can help your child is by resolving your teen’s challenges and providing the techniques and assistance they need to cope with these issues in the future. They will seek to help your son or daughter find meaning while dealing with tough situations like substance abuse, eating disorders, stress, anxiety, and more significant debilitating mental illnesses such as depression and bipolar disorder. With their training and adaptive nature, they can make all the difference, helping improve your child’s quality of life and hope for a better future.
