Why Ridge RTC?

Our team is composed of individuals who are not only extensively trained and seasoned but also possess a understanding of how to engage with adolescents. We deliberately seek out counselors, psychologists, and other mental health experts who have a desire to aid young individuals and hold specialized qualifications, certifications, and/or licenses. 

We adopt a proactive approach to staffing, ensuring that we consistently maintain an ample number of staff members to deliver the intensive care we are dedicated to providing. 

At Ridge RTC, our philosophy is grounded in the conviction that the most effective way to treat adolescents is to address the emotional foundations of their challenging behaviors. When a client exhibits issues like drug use, disordered eating, self-harm, or other behavioral difficulties, these often represent negative coping skills. It’s common for teens to turn to substances or harmful behaviors to manage feelings of anxiety, depression, or other emotional struggles. Programs that concentrate solely on modifying behaviors overlook the chance to address the underlying causes of a young person’s struggles.

Failing to address the underlying emotional cause of a behavioral problem means the issue is likely to resurface post-treatment, or manifest as another detrimental coping strategy.

The aim of a successful treatment center is to provide the necessary care and reintegrate into everyday life promptly. At Ridge RTC, our program is filled with tailored individual and group therapy sessions that align with the unique treatment objectives of each client. Offering four individual therapy sessions weekly, Ridge RTC stands out as one of the most comprehensive residential programs nationwide. Although one might expect such intensity to be standard in therapeutic settings, it is regrettably not the case. 

To guarantee that the program chosen suits best your child’s requirements, look in depth at qualifications like credentials along with knowledge level and extra training attained by therapists involved. You may find seeking advice from a professional regarding this topic useful too while checking if there are any insurance coverage possibilities applicable would prove beneficial overall.

Teens come to us during a challenging time that can include behavioral challenges, and while these behaviors need to be addressed, we do not believe that treatment should be a punishment.

For treatment outcomes to be impactful and enduring, the progress made during therapy must be applicable to the client’s home environment. Precisely for this reason, we refrain from employing outdated behavior modification techniques such as point systems or phase systems.

Regrettably, many treatment facilities still rely on punitive approaches to treatment that include outdated methods as the cornerstone of their residential programs. Occasionally, this is due to a lack of awareness among providers about the minimal value these systems have been recognized to hold since the 1970s. More commonly, it is indicative of their inability, or lack of willingness, to engage in the more profound and challenging work necessary to facilitate genuine and lasting change within individuals.

In contrast to many adolescent programs that restrict communication between parents and their children, we emphasize the importance of nurturing strong familial bonds. Our goal is to bring families together, not to erect divisions. We reject the concept of ‘blackout’ periods that prevent parents from contacting their children.

While our clients are not permitted to use their personal cell phones, we make landlines available in the residence for them to reach out to authorized family members. To maintain a focus on recovery without external distractions, we do restrict calls to friends and non-immediate family members.

At Ridge RTC, we are committed to a treatment philosophy that empowers our clients, which is fundamental to fostering effective and long-lasting outcomes. Often, adolescent treatment programs are overly punitive, operating under the premise that a teen needs to be ‘broken’. We strongly reject this approach and in contrast, we focus on elevating our clients, fortifying their strengths, and guiding them to discover the profound benefits of managing their mental health and emotions in healthier ways. Our goal is to help our clients enhance self-awareness, decision-making, and steering their life path towards wellness.

We acknowledge that every family member contributes their own set of strengths, skills, and challenges to any situation. At Ridge RTC, we embrace these aspects fully to foster growth, adaptation, coping, and decision-making within families. Our approach to family work is constructive, focusing on resolving conflicts and devising strategies that enable the family as a whole to support the youth in reaching their utmost potential.

To this end, we provide personalized family therapy, training for parental effectiveness, and continuous support services for parents. Recognizing that certain family members may be unable to engage in some treatment activities due to work obligations, distance, or other reasons, we offer our services via telephone, tele-health, and other necessary means.

Our team is committed to being accessible for family inquiries and support around the clock, every day of the year. These family support services are extended not only to those with a loved one currently in treatment but also as a complimentary, ongoing aftercare resource for all of our program’s alumni.

Upon their arrival at Ridge RTC, each client undergoes a thorough set of evaluations, including Psychiatric, Psychological, Medical, and Educational assessments. One might assume this comprehensive approach is standard practice, yet it’s not always the case. Some adolescent treatment programs delay consulting with mental health or medical professionals until significant time has passed, squandering precious treatment time and subjecting young individuals to unnecessary setbacks.

We firmly believe that crafting a personalized and effective treatment plan is unattainable without quality evaluations. Understanding what you’re treating is essential for successful intervention. Relying solely on observable behaviors or surface issues does not allow the deeper, core challenges to be addressed.

At Ridge RTC, we specialize in helping young people achieve their academic goals. Upon admission, every youth undergoes an educational assessment to identify their academic needs, preferences, and abilities. With parental consent, our academic coordinator can liaise with the client’s home school to gather assignments and return completed work for grading. We also offer proctored testing when necessary. Our aim is to ensure that our clients are up-to-date in their studies, reducing stress when they return home and back to school. 

The academic needs of our students vary widely. We support youth who excel in school and take AP courses, as well as those who face learning challenges. Occasionally, some young people are not enrolled in school. In such cases, we provide opportunities to earn transferable high school credits, assist in finding a new school, or offer instruction for college entrance exams. Our small size, high staff-to-client ratio, and extensive resources enable us to meet each client’s unique academic needs. 

While some young people seek treatment on their own, others are encouraged or even forced by concerned parents or other external factors. Both scenarios are common. Unfortunately, some families delay treatment due to the myth that one must “hit bottom” before seeking help. This misconception is often perpetuated by treatment providers who do not see motivating youth as their responsibility. The real danger is that “hitting bottom” can mean serious harm or even death. There is no benefit in allowing a young person to continue destructive behaviors any longer than necessary. Evidence shows that early intervention in emotional health, behavioral issues or substance misuse significantly increases the likelihood of success. When young people come to us for treatment, it is okay if they are resistant. It is our responsibility to motivate them and help them find value in treatment and in approaching their lives differently.

For most teens, gender-exclusive treatment is not ideal. Programs that treat only one gender or segregate genders can easily avoid addressing important issues. Numerous studies support our belief that treating young people in a co-gendered setting best reflects real life.

If issues arise related to how an individual interacts with the opposite gender, we want them to surface during treatment so we can address them appropriately. We aim to avoid creating an artificial, single-gender environment where a teen may thrive, only to return them to a co-gendered world.

The goal is to empower young people with the skills and knowledge needed to have healthy, appropriate relationships with individuals of both genders.

Mental health and addiction treatment programs have traditionally focused on young people’s deficits, problem behaviors, and pathologies. However, recent research by psychologists, psychiatrists, educators, and others clearly shows that a strength-based approach can yield significantly better long-term results. At Ridge RTC, our strength-based approach is founded on the belief that young people and their families are resilient and competent, possessing unique talents, skills, and interests. By building on these strengths, youth have more frequent opportunities for success. We are dedicated to helping young people find value in approaching their lives differently.  This approach allows our treatment team to utilize each adolescent’s natural abilities as an efficient and effective path for engagement and positive change.