Troubled teens are notorious for having little respect for authority. The urge for independence takes hold, and authority seems to stand in the way.
The push and pull of the power struggle is exhausting. Not to mention the frustrations and consequences that come out of the outbursts, as the teen seeks to break free from control.
Many parents of troubled teens reach their wit’s end trying to teach respect for authority. Adults are the enemies to troubled teens. No amount of conversation, threats, and punishments make a difference. Parents claim defeat.
Parents of troubled teens do not have to claim defeat. There is hope in teaching that all people deserve respect. It can’t happen in the home, and it can’t be from adults teenagers are comfortable with and used to berating.
How a Therapeutic Boarding School Can Help
When an adolescent has a difficult time understanding the importance of respecting adults, a third party can help. This neutral, third party can use techniques that open the mind enough to start working through the beliefs teenagers have who are disrespectful.
It’s the beliefs that are the problem, and are what result in the behavior. By changing the belief system, the actions and behaviors can change.
Changing belief systems is challenging, especially in the adolescent stage where hormones and peers are pushing against them. Researchers have studied adolescent cognition and their behavioral effects, and counselors and therapists have used the information to create and implement techniques to effectively change cognition and in turn, behaviors.
Therapeutic boarding schools use counselors and therapists who have experience with cognitive behavioral therapy. With regular counseling sessions, troubled teens start to understand why they believe authority is against them. They start to discover that adults aren’t trying to hurt them or hold them back, but are trying to help them. They begin to see the light.
Why Does It Have to Happen at a Therapeutic Boarding School?
Locality is everything. When people are in the environment where they have the cognition that produces the disrespectful actions and behaviors, they have a much harder time changing them. By being in an unfamiliar environment, a biological vulnerability helps teens absorb the information they are given during sessions.
In addition, teenagers who go to trouble teen boarding schools meet others who understand them. By speaking with them in and outside of group therapy, they begin to understand more of what they have been doing, simply by hearing and seeing what others have done. It can be an eye-opening experience.
Teaching Respect Now for Later
There’s no better time to teach respect. Disrespectful teens will grow up to be disrespectful adults. Stop the thoughts he’s having now that leads to negative behaviors that will only hurt him in the long run. Contact a therapeutic boarding school for help today.
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