Alternative boarding school offering troubled teens programs and boot camps providing teenage help and parenting advice and tips.

Living with a teen who has anger issues can turn into a dangerous situation not just for the teen but for the parents and siblings. Parents who are faced with teens who have severe anger issues often feel as if they are hostages of these outbursts. At times, parents who are at the end of their rope when dealing with angry and violent children end up considering bootcamp for teens.

What are bootcamps for teens?
There are privately-managed bootcamps and governmental institutions (often part of correctional facilities for young people). Bootcamp for teens are typically modelled after military boot camps where there are drill sergeants or task masters enforcing discipline among campers. Teens are subjected to rigid military exercises and shock incarceration methods in order to affect behavior modification. It's often seen as a quick-fix solution for teens with behavioral problems.

What are the disadvantages of bootcamps for teens?
Boot camps have been receiving a lot of criticisms primarily because of the rate of recidivism that happens among young people who go through these camps. According to researches, the recidivism rate of young people who go through boot camp is roughly the same as inmates who go through the correctional system.

More often than not, teens who go through bootcamps develop a negative perception, mistrust, and resentment for authority figures. The authority figures in boot camps use intimidation, physically punishing routines, and an "in your face" approach to scaring teens into submission. Not many of them will have therapy or counseling as part of the program, and those that do include therapy don't make it a focal point of the program. As a result, teens (especially those who are having issues with anger and violence) are subjected to a more frustrating situation where their self-esteem takes a serious hit.

Many bootcamps also face criticism because of accidental deaths and injuries that happen inside these camps. These camps have a set regimen that is implemented on all campers, individual needs and capabilities are not usually taken into consideration. Unlike therapeutic camps that creates personalized programs and gets to know students before they are admitted to the program, boot camps seem to use only standardized procedures to sort of break the teen's spirits and "cure" them of the symptoms of a troubled teen.

Troubled teens do what they do because of many underlying reasons. Acting out, experimenting with sex or substances, showing inability to express anger, and similar symptoms cannot be cured by simply intimidating teens or threatening them with physically difficult military exercises. Chances are, teens also need help understanding why they are struggling and helping them transition to a better pattern.

Boot camps also don't provide any sort of aftercare for teens. Many teens may appear "changed" for a short time before they go back to their old ways or they may just get better at hiding what they do from their parents. There are better alternatives to boot camps that are more successful at helping struggling teens like wilderness therapy or therapeutic boarding schools. These are other options that are worth considering.