Questions to Ask...
A number of books - along with magazine and newspaper articles - have been written about "troubled teen" treatment programs. Whether they have a positive or negative orientation towards residential treatment programs or therapeutic boarding schools ----- the authors often pose a series of excellent questions for families to ask of each program they are considering.
It is our belief at Hope Ranch, that you should ask ANY and EVERY question concerning the program to which you are considering enrolling your child. Therefore, we are publishing these questions and providing answers within the scope of the Hope Ranch program. We hope you find this useful.
1. How often may I contact my child, and how often may I visit?
Hope Ranch encourages written open, honest contact between parents and students beginning on the 1st day of enrollment through letter writing. After the initial 30 days has passed, the student places a 20-minute phone call to her parents every other week. When the student reaches level 2, the 20-minute phone calls become weekly. Quarterly there are 3-day Family Enrichment Conferences/Retreats at which families come together for counseling and therapy. At the therapeutically appropriate times, other visits may be scheduled during quarter breaks and elective week breaks. The visits are dependent on a number of factors – including the student’s therapeutic and academic progress, the degree of progress achieved during the Retreats, and the satisfactory completion of specific pre-visit assignments for both family and student. As part of each student’s “transition” from the Hope Ranch/Star Meadows Academy program (levels 4 & 5), several home visits are scheduled to help them reacquiant themselves with the environment to which they will return.
2. What are the qualifications of the line staff who work directly with the teens?
All Hope Ranch therapists are Masters- and Doctorate-level. All teachers are certified in the state of Montana. All residential staff must have a bachelors degree or have extensive previous experience in a residential treatment program. All employees and spouses, including volunteers, go through a criminal background check.
3. What is your policy on isolation and restraint?
Hope Ranch is not a psychiatric or lockdown facility. There is no isolation. Because the possibility does exist for a student’s anger to migrate to aggressive behavior, each staff member is required to satisfactorily complete a course on non-physical intervention and de-escalation. If there is a safety concern over a student's behavior, the student is temporarily removed from the community of students under the supervision of a staff member until the situation can be de-escalated and the student safely returned to the community.
4. What is your procedure for patient complaints?
Every Hope Ranch student has the right to initiate a complaint or concern to any therapist. In addition, one staff member is specifically designated as “Student Advocate” and the responsibilities of this position are to listen to any student and her concern and to ensure that concern is addressed at the highest possible level of program management - assuring the student there will be no reprisal or retribution.
5. What are the rules of the program, and what are the consequences for breaking them?
The broad rules of the Hope Ranch program are defined in “Student Expectations” and the specific rules are outlined in the Student Handbook. Students are expected to abide by the program’s rules. Hope Ranch does not impose punishment on students for non-compliance – rather it is our belief that both positive and negative consequences (outcomes) are determined by a student's choices, behavior and actions. Consequences are logical, and flow from and are directly linked to the behavior. Each student learns to be accountable for and accept responsibility for her actions. Therefore, consequences are earned, not imposed. The program is a level (or progress-based) system and advancement through the levels is based on staff's assessment of progress, growth and achievement in the therapeutic, academic and residential areas of the program.
6. How do you deal with medical complaints?
Every Hope Ranch staff member is certified in CPR and First Aid. Other staff members have varying degrees of advanced First Aid training. Any medical issue is assessed and appropriate medical attention is provided. When possible, the family is notified and participates in any medical decision, but in the case of an emergency, medical aid and treatment are immediate.
7. What is your philosophy on confrontation?
Every Hope Ranch student is treated with respect and kindness. In the event of a situation which requires intervention or confrontation, the “person” of the student is separated from the “behavior” of the student and appropriate, non-physical de-escalation techniques are used to return the student to an appropriate level of behavior. Every staff member is trained in de-escalation techniques.
8. How long will my child be in treatment?
Hope Ranch is a “5-level” program – graduation from the program occuring at the completion of level 5. Each student, by her actions and acceptance of the program, determines her length of time in the program. Some students have completed the program in 12 months; the average time (currently) is 16 months; we ask families to financially plan for 18-20 months. Given the weekly telephone contact between the family and each student's therapist, every family is kept fully apprised of their girl's progress.
9. What is a typical day in treatment like?
A typical day at Hope Ranch involves residential, social, academic, spiritual and physical activities - as well as "treatment" or therapeutic activities. See the “typical day at Hope Ranch.”
10. What are your policies about medication?
All medications arecontrolled and supervised by a registered nurse. Hope Ranch personnel are trained to dispense student medications in accordance with the prescriptions written by a physician. Medications are kept in a locked cabinet in a locked room; are dispensed to one student at a time; and, each student is checked to assure that she takes her meds. Strict inventories of each student’s medications are kept. Medications are prescribed and adjusted only by a physician (usually the psychiatrist who works with the Hope Ranch therapists) to assure that all aspects of her therapeutic program are maximized.