The teenage years aren’t easy on anyone. From outside stressors, like school and personal relationships. To potential behavioral and emotional problems brought on by trauma. Not only that, don’t forget the high chance of having mental health issues, substance abuse issues, or social problems. These are all outliers that may lead to troubled teens.

Even when you know it is the right thing to do, deciding to get help for your troubled teens can be difficult. There are many options when it comes to getting help for your teen, the struggle is choosing the right one.

Eagle Ranch Academy in St. George, Utah helps teens overcome abuse, depression, anxiety, phone addiction, behavioral health, and lack of respect for authority. At ERA we offer a team of professionals in a safe, loving, and nurturing environment. Our goal is to help your child. Here’s how we do it. 

Teens Overcoming Abuse

Some subjects are more difficult to discuss with your children. Child/adolescent abuse or neglect is an uncomfortable topic and hard to relive as a young person. It can be confusing and very detrimental to one’s mental health. If your child has experienced any sort of abuse or neglect growing up, it becomes a high risk factor to create extensive damage mentally. Stemming off into potential psychological problems, such as low self esteem. Those things more often than not, lead to more high risk behavior. Such as substance abuse. Which then leads to a very troubled teenager.

The potential long term effects of childhood abuse and neglect can be debilitating as you’re growing into adulthood. Persistent mental health problems are too common in these cases. Mental health problems associated with past childhood abuse and neglect include:

  • PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder)
  • Dissociative Disorders
  • Substance Abuse/Addiction
  • Depression
  • Anxiety Disorders
  • Psychosis

At such a young age, it’s difficult for teens to know how to cope with the emotions they’re feeling in these situations. They may become irrational, angry, or even abusive towards themselves and others. 

Adults who have experienced child abuse or neglect are two and a half times more likely to have severe depression and six times more likely to suffer from PTSD than adults who have not suffered neglect or abuse.

At Eagle Ranch Academy, our goal is to help you help your child from reaching severe struggle and dysfunction. After completing ERA’s program, your child will have a better understanding on how to successfully make their own choices. They will also learn how to create and sustain successful and healthy relationships. 

Creating a more real life experience, with a choice based program. ERA avoids a behavioral modification program that sets your child’s expectations up incorrectly. The world is not based on a reward system. We help troubled teens create internal core values that become natural for them to stick to, despite the struggles or poor choices they have made in the past. 

Depression in Troubled Teens

There are many warning signs to look out for if you think your child is suffering with depression. If their mental health is struggling, it may affect the way your child thinks, feels and behaves. Being persistently sad, or having loss of interest in their normal activities is also something you should look out for.

It’s normal for a teenager to feel down about academics, their friends, or themselves. The harder part as a parent is differing between teen normalcy and actual signs of depression. The most important thing you can do is talk with your troubled teenager. 

Untreated depression can lead to emotional, behavioral and future health problems. Some complications in your teen’s life related to depression may lead to:

  • Academic Problems
  • Low Self Esteem/Self Worth
  • Increased Anxiety
  • Self Harm
  • Suicidality
  • Alcohol and Drug Abuse
  • Family Conflict/Relationship Difficulties
  • Involvement with the Juvenile Justice System

If they’re seeming overwhelmed, or not themselves it may be time to seek help. At Eagle Ranch Academy in St. George, Utah, we’re here to help you and your teenager cope and work through the issues at hand. Depression is real, it is not as simple as “Just get up and do something different”. It is a mental, physical, and emotional illness, which needs to be treated properly. You don’t have to do it alone.

Anxiety in Troubled Teens

When dealing with troubled teens, there can be a range of mental health issues going on. One that tends to go hand in hand with depression, is anxiety. 

Anxiety is becoming an increasingly common disorder among teenagers and statistically,

around 32 percent of teens in America struggle with an anxiety disorder at some point between the ages of 13 and 18.

If your teen is struggling with anxiety, imagine what it would feel like to live in constant fear and in a chronic state of fight or flight. The disorder wreaks havoc on not only the neurosystem, but can interfere with academia, relationships with peers, and cause family conflict.

Eagle Ranch Academy aids your child in creating those healthy coping mechanisms to deal with such disorders during everyday life. We help your children internalize their core values and apply them to their relationships and personal decisions.

Letting your troubled teen know they’re not alone during a mental, or emotional health crisis is the key to save them from future suffering in life. Eagle Ranch Academy can provide you with solutions to your child’s mental health needs.

Electronic Addiction – Phone, Computer, Gaming, Etc.

Teen cell phone addiction has similarities to drug addiction. One of the greatest links is the rush of dopamine a teen will experience when using their cell phone. Many teens can’t necessarily articulate the desire to use their phones constantly except that it makes them feel good. This is not necessarily an accident. The same release of dopamine is similar to the release of dopamine and other neurotransmitters that happens when drugs are used (drugabuse.gov).

If a child or teenager suffers from cell phone addiction, it could have negative implications on brain development as the human brain isn’t fully developed until around the age of 25.

With cell phones come all of the fun stuff. Social media, gaming apps, chat rooms. Opening a door to potentially dangerous implications on your curious troubled teenager. Make sure you know everything they’re up to and monitor the amount of time they spend on their cell phone.  Learn more about Cell Phone addiction here.

If you think that your teen may suffer from an addiction to their cell phone, the team at Eagle Ranch Academy in St. George Utah has different rehabilitation options to help. 

Lack of Respect For Authority

Now it’s known that no one really likes being told what to do. As a growing teenager though, the more troubled you become, the more you test your authority. Your once compliant child may start to feel like a stranger. 

Most parents just brush it off with the thought of their child just wanting to be independent. If you let it continue, it could create a much deeper issue. 

Dealing with troubled teenagers can be very difficult. Some parents get to the point with their kids where they don’t know where to turn. They’re not listening, they’re yelling, acting out. ERA is here to help.

Specializing in instilling life altering core values into your troubled teenager, Eagle Ranch Academy believes in long term solutions for your teens misbehavior. There are 8 core values we teach to help reconnect to those values you taught, but have long since forgotten.

ERA’s 8 Core Values

  • ACCOUNTABILITY: I will be Accountable for the things that happen in my life.
  • HONESTY: I will be Honest in all my relationships.
  • FORGIVENESS: I will Forgive everyone, including those that have hurt me.
  • ACCEPTANCE: I will Accept who I am and not seek the Acceptance of others.
  • INTEGRITY: I will always be the same person, whether in front of people or behind closed doors.
  • RESPECT: I will Respect others and myself.
  • TRUST: I will earn the Trust that I have lost and take the risk of trusting others.
  • SERVICE: I will give back to others because I have been given much.

At Eagle Ranch Academy we teach troubled teens to make the right decisions, because it’s the right thing for them to do. Students will learn to solve their issues realistically and with great intention. Helping them to build healthy personal relationships in the future. Not only with others, but with themselves.

Eagle Ranch’s Academic Program

At Eagle Ranch Academy, we have partnered with Coral Sands Academy to offer state of the art technology and a comprehensive list of course offerings.  We offer a full school curriculum for both Junior High School and High School.  Not only do we have all of the required core classes, we have an extensive list of electives, and Honors and Advanced Placement classes. 

Our academic programs are individualized. Each student’s study skills and academic strengths are assessed to set up their own specific Academic Plan and class schedule which meets the needs of the student. Eagle Ranch Academy/Coral Sands Academy’s Academic Program is nationally recognized and fully accredited through Cognia, formly AdvancED. 

Our goal is to meet every student where they are, help them move forward to return to their high school, prepare them for college, or whatever their next step will be. All transcripts and diplomas are through Coral Sands Academy, which will transfer anywhere as a private, digital learning academy. To learn more about Eagle Ranch Academy/Coral Sands Academy Academic program, visit our website. 

Here’s What Parents Are Saying About ERA 

“Eagle Ranch Academy is the most unique and complete full service Residential Treatment Center and Youth Development Program for teenage boys and girls anywhere. It is a great place to send a struggling teen. In fact, we sent our daughter to ERA when she was struggling. Our exhaustive research paid off. ERA is the BEST.”

– Jim

“Before we placed my daughter in Eagle Ranch Academy, she was a wreck on the verge of self destruction wanting to commit suicide. After 18 months in the program I have nothing but positive things to say regarding this program. They truly care about your child. The staff want nothing but the best and work hard to achieve that. They give up much of their own time and have taken their responsibility as ERA team members very seriously. The program is tough but your child will greatly benefit from the rigor. Many programs are fluffed up with sports or animals not ERA. They get to the nuts and bolts of your child’s problem and work within a system that works well. I fully recommend this program.”

-Teri

Eagle Ranch Academy for Troubled or Struggling Teenagers

Eagle Ranch Academy has been helping troubled teens and their families since 2005. We would love to discuss how we can help you with your struggling teenager. Our admissions counselors have spent a lifetime working with young people and their parents. From your first phone call, to well after your Child completes our program, we will be with you every step of the way.

Give us a call today 1-888-698-7095

115 West 1470 South

Saint George, Utah 84770

Business Hours: 8:00 am – 5:00 pm Monday – Friday