CERTS Residential Treatment Centers
While each CERTS program is uniquely designed for a specific girl, all of our programs share a common commitment to the highest clinical standards of care. For us this means specialized training, small case loads, and all the love and attention we know how to deliver! Over the years, all of our programs have truly proven to be highly successful at working with the following presenting issues:
- Bipolar
- Borderline Personality Disorder
- Depression
- Eating disorders
- Cutting or other forms of Self mutilation
- Alchoholism
- Substance Abuse
- Oppositional Defiant Disorder
- Out of control anger
- Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
- Anxiety Disorder
- Suicidal Ideation
- Attachment Disorders
Certified Educational, Recreational, Therapeutic Schools and Programs (CERTS) has been widely recognized as a leading provider of specialized residential treatment centers for adolescents in the United States. A specialized program works specifically with one type of individual, meeting their unique clinical needs while also working with them in ways that they understand best.
At CERTS, we believe passionately that not only are we all different, but that these differences present opportunities in treatment to help us heal more effectively. For example, we all process pain or sadness differently: some of us draw or play music, some of us kick a ball or want to go outside, and some of us hug an animal, to name just a few ways of coping. These means of releasing are "languages" for us. At CERTS, our goal in treatment is to have a specially trained therapist spend as much time as possible speaking your daughter's language!
Another important difference is how we learn best: some of us are highly verbal, some learn best by doing, and yet others by hearing. CERTS clinicians will intentionally use a blended mix of all three learning styles to more effectively hammer home life lessons and to create change. The results are powerful: better long-term outcomes in a comparatively shorter period of time, lowering the overall cost of treatment for families.
To illustrate the need for clinically specific programming, take the example of a family looking for residential treatment for their 16 year old, who has a history of cutting, some eating disordered behavior, and his been previously diagnosed as Bipolar. Assume they have already decided that they would like her to be in a girls-only setting because of her history of sexually acting out. Because traditional treatment is not clinically specific, their 16 year old could easily end up sharing a room—and virtually all program elements—with a 13 year old struggling with adoption and abandonment issues, a 17 year old hard-core drug addict, and a 15 year old former gang member with a history of physical violence. While all of her roommates would still be female teens, obviously the individual needs and treatment modalities best suited for each of these girls could be very different. Historically, this "one size fits all" approach to running programs has often resulted in limited success and unnecessarily long length of stays.
By contrast, a specialized program separates by gender, by age, by diagnosis, and by interests and learning styles ('languages"). While there will still be a range of issues treated in this and any treatment setting, increasing commonalities amongst the students allows the program to hone in on how best to treat this type of girl. This 16-year old example just happens to be a very common admission into several of the CERTS programs. To get more information about the specific ways each CERTS program would uniquely work with this type of girl, visit our programs page.
CERTS residential treatment center programs share a common belief in the innate greatness of our students. These troubled teenagers ignore their abilities and focus, instead, on their perceived shortcomings as they spiral downward. Based on extensive research, CERTS has designed a unique Personal Greatness Program that helps each child rediscover their inner greatness as they work through their clinical program. The numerous therapeutic activities that our students engage in rebuild brick by brick the wall of their "personal greatness" and help to alter our student's thought patterns about their future lives.
CERTS Programs also believe very strongly that any progress that doesn't involve the family will be short-lived. Therefore, all CERTS facilities have strong parent and family education and involvement to ensure lasting change.
Because of these beliefs and standards, parents with children in a CERTS facility have the peace of mind that comes from knowing that their child is receiving the very best help possible from a caring, expert staff. Take our online assessment and find out if there is a CERTS facility available for your child below.
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