The Troubled Teens Support Center

Every person is unique, but when you face a challenge like troubled teens, you are never alone.  Countless parents and other caregivers have faced the exact same situation and have survived and thrived.  The following guide is designed to help you navigate your journey with the best information and resources that helped other survivors when they faced the same challenge.  

TSC has scoured the Internet and assembled links to the very best troubled teens resources: articles, blogs, forums and tools that can help you make better decisions and take action to overcome the range of physical, emotional and other challenges that you face.

As you’ll see, we always welcome your ideas and suggestions to make this Troubled Teens Guide even more helpful to survivors like you.    

JUST FOUND OUT  

Survivors Say: Best Resources for Troubled teens

• Parent Resources 
• Focus Adolescent Services: Help Your Teen and Heal Your Family 
• Troubled Teens Resources

The Big Picture   

Troubled teens often have a variety of addiction, behavioral, and emotional problems. They can be hard to deal with and treat, but there are programs available. For a list of programs:

Trouble Teens Program: Teen Revitalization

To understand signs and symptoms of a troubled teen:

4 Troubled Teens: What is a Troubled Teen?

Your Troubled teens

To understand risky behavior in troubled teens:

Troubled Teen 101: Risky Teen Behavior

To understand normal and not normal teen behavior:

Troubled Teen 101: Typical Teen Behavior

Your World

Dealing with troubled teens is not easy. You may be experiencing as much emotional turmoil as the troubled teen. To help you understand what you are going through, visit:

4 Troubled Teens: Resources for Parents of Troubled Teens

Troubled teens Myths

• Military schools are for all troubled teens
• Bad Kids are always bad
• All troubled teens are mentally ill

Information and Recommended Links for Survivors

• Teens With Problems
  
• White River Academy: It's Okay to Demand Greatness of Your Troubled Teen
  
• Troubled Teens - Help and Troubled Teen Programs
  

Types of Treatment

Boarding Schools

Troubled teens may struggle in traditional environments. Boarding schools can provide a structured environment after therapists, school counselors, and spiritual advisors have failed to help your troubled teen.

Teen Boarding Schools: Boarding Schools for Troubled Teens

Military schools

Depending on what issue your troubled teen is having, there is an alternative school solution that may help.

Family First Aid: Schools and Programs for Troubled Teens

Programs

Various programs can help you connect with your troubled teen. To help you find an option that is right for your family, visit:

Troubled Teen: Help for Your Troubled Teen

Possible Treatment Side Effects

Finding help for your troubled teen is essential to help them heal. It may take a while to find a treatment option that fits or a boarding school that is right for your troubled teen. To find the right boarding school, take a look at these tips:

Boarding School Review: 5 Steps for Choosing a Boarding School

Creating a support circle

• Set up your TSC Survivor Profile
• Join support groups of other survivors or set up your own
• Interact and provide updates on your profile or our forums
  

Insurance & Work Matters

Insurance Matters

Check with your insurance carrier to see if they help with some of the costs associated with caring for a troubled teen. Mental health, counseling, drug treatment facilities and hospital care are just a few of the costs.

Health-care Providers Who Can Help

Therapists and mental health professionals can often assist in the recovery of a troubled teen and their families. For a list of types of counselors:

Young Women's Health: Counseling and Therapy - A Guide for Teens

Resources to Find Doctors

• Choosing and Communicating with a therapist
• How to Find a Doctor or Treatment Center
• Search Troubled teens Centers
  

The Emotional Roller-coaster

Surviving with troubled teens proves to be a challenge to everyone that has gone through the experience. Dealing with the pain, heartache and general unhappiness that comes from struggling with a troubled teen is hard on everyone. Educating yourself on treatment techniques and knowing that you are not alone in this experience can help you understand and relieve some of the feelings you may experience from dealing with a troubled teen.

Books Survivors Recommend

• Helping Your Troubled Teen: Learn to Recognize, Understand, and Address the Destructive Behavior of Today's Teens and Preteens
• Mind of a Troubled Teen
• Parenting Your Out-of-Control Teenager: 7 Steps to Reestablish Authority and Reclaim Love
• Stop Negotiating With Your Teen: Strategies for Parenting Your Angry, Manipulative, Moody, or Depressed Adolescent

What Survivors Wish They’d Known

Dealing with Troubled teens: Information and Recommended Links for Co-Survivors        

How you can help

• Be supportive of your friend with a troubled teen. Help them understand that it is not their poor parenting that got their child into trouble.
  

What to say   

• "I will help you find the right treatment option”
• "It’s not your fault”
• Tell them how much you care about them

What not to say

• "You shouldn’t have screwed up"
• "Bad kids don’t grow out of it”
• "Your kid is hopeless"
  

How to build a support network

• Set up your TSC Co-Survivor Profile
• Create a support group for your friend or family member.
• Interact and provide updates
  

How to help a survivor deal with day-to-day challenges

Preparing the School for Your Troubled teens: The Center for Empowered Teaching - The Troubled Student

After treatment, your teen should tend more towards normalcy. Like any addiction, old habits die hard and recovery is difficult.

Give back

What helped you while you were dealing with a troubled teen situation? Take a look back at your journey and share with other what helped you and what you wished you would have known/done during your troubled teens experience. You can create a profile, reach out to other survivors, join support circles or share your story by following the links at TheSurvivorsClub.org. Check out some of the best charities for supporting troubled teens research or offering support to survivors: 

National Association of Teen Institute

Troubled teens are often at risk for depression and consequently suicide.

American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry: Teen Suicide
   
If your teen dies as a consequence of mental illness or addiction which are contributing factors of being a troubled teen, visit this link for support:

Teens Health: Death and Grief