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

What are Boot Camps?
Boot camps are military-style institutions that can be both private or goverment-funded which uses discipline, military exercises and a rigorous kind of training which aim to break the defiant spirit of troubled teens. Many parents hope that when their teens go back home, they'll be obedient, disciplined little soldiers who have a deep respect for authorities.

Some boot camps are state-run programs which serve as substitutes for juvenile jail. Some teenage boot camps are privately run camps where guards enforce unreasonably strict rules and regimens. Some rules are even put in place for the sole purpose of drilling into the heads of teens that they should follow rules or suffer the consequences for it. Breaking rules usually have consequences that are physically punishing or are a bit shameful to go through. The military exercises that are used in teenage boot camp facilities are patterned from the exercises used in actual military camps.

The main idea of boot camps is to challenge teens to follow rules and realize that the world doesn't revolve around them. It challenges teens' perception of reality and, in a way, puts them in their place.

However, many therapists would disagree with the methods employed in teen boot camps. Instead of teaching teens to respect authority figures, they are taught to resent them or use deceptive means to get themselves out of trouble. They are inflicted with a negative kind of fear which one should not associate with authority figures. Instead of nurturing a healthy self-esteem, they become frustrated and more angry and hurt than before. In a way, it's not much different from the feeling of being bullied.

It's also a sad fact that teenage boot camp facilities have suffered from accusations of physical and emotional abuse many times in the past. It may be a relatively better option than locking juvenile offenders up in jail, but it's not something that would help seriously troubled teenagers get back on the right track.

Better alternatives for troubled teens
The main reason why boot camps are often unsuccessful in helping troubled teens is that they don't really address the issues that teens are facing. Take for example a teen that is experimenting with drug use. There may be a chance that they can be scared into not touching drugs again because their parents may send them back to boot camp. However, the reasons that led them to try drugs remain untouched. It's very likely that they would go back to trying drugs again and maybe be smarter about hiding the fact from their parents.

It would be more helpful to arrange for programs like wilderness therapy camps or therapeutic boarding schools. In such programs, intensive therapy and counseling is a part of daily activities. Contrary to what some commercial boot camps promise, it takes some time for troubled teens to become stabilized and for the therapy and counseling to have some lasting effects. It also takes a good aftercare program to ease the teens back to their home and community. Boot camps simply don't provide this kind of support.