Therapeutic boarding schools

Shelterwood's Program of Excellence

Shelterwood was founded more than thirty years ago to help families and teenagers build better, stronger and brighter lives. Attending our program allows parents to reconnect with each other and their other children while providing their struggling teen a place to safely address his or her own needs. We provide the safety and experience necessary for teens to address issues of depression, anger, substance use, risky behavior, anger, substance abuse, family discord, and school failure. Our program has grown and evolved over the years and has successfully assisted thousands of families in realizing their dreams. We stand out among secular and Christian boarding schools.

Shelterwood is different because of four primary building blocks of our program's foundation. They are:

Influential Mentorship - More than twenty mentors live and work with the teenagers on our campus. These young adults attempt to connect with the residents of Shelterwood. While the teens are in school classes, our mentors are also in class learning innovative methods of working with teens, sharpening their relationships with one another, and deepening their understanding and connection with Jesus. Motivated from love, these men and women live in the dorms with the teens and share their lives with them. Our mentors spend a great deal of time with the boys and girls, including doing chores with them, preparing dinner, helping with study hall, and even taking the teens off campus on mission trips and camping trips. They humble themselves and serve the teens in an effort to connect with them and show them the love of Jesus. We call it "life on life" - more than simply the peer support that other programs may endorse.

Masterful Therapy - Shelterwood stands apart from other therapeutic boarding schools by keeping a low ratio of counselors to students. This ensures that every teen in our care is assigned directly to a Master's degree level counselor. Our therapy team does not simply sit in their offices. We recognize that most teens struggle with talk therapy and are not self aware enough to disclose all that might be troubling them. So our therapists meet the teens where they are at - spending time going with them on walks, eating meals together, shooting hoops, or joining in on camping trips and spiritual retreats.

Academic Excellence - Shelterwood has a very strong academic program. Ensuring that teenagers have access to topnotch educational opportunities is critical for their success in life. That's why Shelterwood runs an on-site school that is fully accredited and capable of challenging students of all levels. Unlike most treatment programs, our teachers actually teach from the front of the class and students move from class to class on our campus throughout the school day. While other treatment programs try to cut costs by providing independent online or self-paced correspondence education, Shelterwood has always made an effort to provide class interaction, discussion and nurturing with accredited teachers. Many of our students go on to college and it is vital to provide a "normalized" school setting for students as they resolve the struggles that have brought them to our program.

Based on Faith - At Shelterwood, our faith is the driving force behind everything we do, but it's not something we force on our residents. The love that Jesus demonstrates for the hurting is the same love that we try to model at Shelterwood. This love is what gives us the energy, motivation and grace to help hurting teens. But as you might expect, most teens that attend our program are not initially interested in God or Christian beliefs. We deeply respect where our students are at spiritually, educationally and therapeutically and so we try to meet them where they are. Our faith, which is so important to us, comes out in the way we care for the kids and the hope that we have in their ability to make changes in their lives.

We have always worked with great families that have the highest values and aspirations for their teens. Parents can rest assured that our multifaceted therapeutic and academic program will benefit their children. With expertise, care and compassion, we treat the whole child and family.

For more than thirty years, Shelterwood has been helping families realize brighter futures. Troubled teens do have a place to turn for support and guidance in finding a better path in life. Of the families we've served, over eighty percent say that their family has experienced restoration, and nearly ninety percent report that they are satisfied with the quality of care they received.

To explore the difference the Shelterwood program makes in more depth, we invite you to explore the remainder of our website and fill in the inquiry form or call us.