A Typical Girl in Treatment
All of the CERTS schools and programs are specifically designed to treat the following presenting issues:
- Bipolar Disorder
- Depression
- Cutting or other forms of self-mutilation
- Low self-esteem
- Suicidal ideation
- Eating Disorders (Anorexia, Bulimia, etc.)
- Addictions of all kinds, including drug and alcohol
- Parent/child conflict
- Physical or sexual abuse
- Manipulation
- Oppositional Defiant Disorder
- Sexually acting out
- School failure
- ADD/ADHD
- Non-verbal learning disabilities
- Adoption and/or abandonment issues
- Peer problems
For all of us, core beliefs drive behaviors. In the case of our girls in treatment, however, these core beliefs are profoundly negative-often summarized best by the words, "I'm not good enough!" This is often partially due to a history that involves parental divorce, adoption, sexual abuse, or some other event that was traumatic for her. Our girl, often very bright but hurting inwardly, then develops behaviors that help her to control pain (often through cutting or eating disorders), deaden or temporarily mask the pain (often through drugs, alcohol, or sexually acting out), or other coping behaviors such as running away, rage or anger explosions, and more.
Understanding the above profile helps you as a parent to then understand why all of our programs are (1) small and clinically intensive-never more than 36 beds, (2) much LESS focused on the behavior and much MORE focused on the core issue, (3) single gender (we strongly prefer to keep girls and boys separate at the RTC level of care, reintroducing boys with Mountain Springs Preparatory Academy). CERTS then takes this one step further by creating specific programs to address the individual differences between girls. Click here to get more information on how this is done.
If you would like to take an assessment to determine whether or not your daughter might be appropriate for a CERTS program, click here.
Parent Education Center