When Military School Isn't Enough: Healing & Support for Teens in Crisis
Your daughter needs a fresh start, a chance to discover her potential and heal family relationships. She needs an environment free from the usual distractions of home. We help provide a clean slate to recover from mental health challenges. Although many parents turn first to military schools in Utah, we have found that teens thrive better in a more therapeutic environment.
Why Discovery Ranch South is a Better Alternative to Military Schools
Many parents seeking help for their struggling daughter may initially consider military school options. While military schools offer structure and discipline, they often lack the therapeutic elements vital for teens with underlying mental health, and emotional or behavioral challenges. Here's why Discovery Ranch South offers a more effective approach:
Military Schools vs. Theraputic Treatment: Understanding the Difference
Military Schools Focus On:
- Strict discipline and conformity
- Rigid daily routines and schedules
- Physical fitness and endurance training
- Academic performance through enforced study
- Behavior modification through consequences
Discovery Ranch Provides:
- Therapeutic healing addressing root causes of behavior
- Personalized treatment plans for each teen's unique needs
- Licensed therapists specializing in adolescent mental health
- Experiential therapy that engages teens in meaningful change
- Family therapy to heal and strengthen relationships
When Your Daughter Needs More Than Just Discipline
Military schools can be effective for teens who primarily need structure and motivation. However, teens struggling with depression, anxiety, trauma, attachment issues, or other mental health challenges require specialized therapeutic care. At Discovery Ranch South, we understand that problematic behaviors are often symptoms of deeper emotional needs.
Our Therapeutic Approach Makes the Difference
Through our relationship-based and experiential therapy programs, your daughter will:
- Identify and address the underlying causes of her behavior
- Develop healthy coping skills for managing emotions
- Rebuild damaged family relationships
- Discover her unique strengths and potential
- Create a foundation for lasting positive change
Unlike military schools that focus primarily on external compliance, our program creates an internal transformation that continues long after your daughter returns home.
Is Your Daughter a Good Fit for Discovery Ranch South?
If your daughter is experiencing behavioral issues alongside emotional challenges, our therapeutic approach is designed to provide the comprehensive support she needs.
Behavioral Signs Your Daughter May Need Support
At Discovery Ranch South, we understand the challenges parents face when their daughter is struggling. Many of the young women who benefit from our therapeutic approach show several of the following behaviors. If you recognize multiple signs in your daughter, it may indicate she needs the structured environment and professional support our residential treatment program provides.
Emotional Warning Signs:
- Shows persistent sadness or emotional numbness
- Withdraws from family activities and relationships
- Expresses feelings of worthlessness or hopelessness
- Demonstrates sudden mood changes or emotional outbursts
- Shows signs of anxiety or panic in everyday situations
- Exhibits excessive worry about past events or future outcomes
Behavioral Concerns:
- Engages in risk-taking behaviors without considering consequences
- Shows increasing defiance toward authority figures
- Demonstrates declining interest in previously enjoyed activities
- Neglects personal hygiene and self-care routines
- Displays dramatic changes in sleeping patterns
- Shows significant changes in eating habits or weight
Social and Academic Indicators:
- Experiences sudden decline in academic performance
- Develops concerning new friendships or social circles
- Shows increasing social isolation or withdrawal
- Demonstrates difficulty maintaining healthy relationships
- Exhibits excessive dependence on technology or gaming
- Shows signs of substance experimentation or use
Serious Warning Signs:
- Expresses thoughts about self-harm or suicide
- Demonstrates aggressive behavior toward others
- Shows signs of trauma response or significant distress
- Exhibits patterns of dishonesty, manipulation, or stealing
- Runs away from home or stays out for extended periods
- Shows signs of potential attachment or adoption-related struggles
If you've noticed several of these behaviors in your daughter, we encourage you to contact our admissions team for a confidential consultation. Early intervention provides the best opportunity for lasting positive change.
Discovery Ranch South has a Specialized Treatment Focus
Through our unique approach to experiential and relationship-based therapy, we can effectively address a wide range of situations, such as:
- Depression
- Trauma
- Anxiety
- Out-of-Control Behavior
- Family Conflict
- ASD/Level 1 Autism
- ADHD
- Adoption & Attachment Issues
- Cutting & Self Harm
- Lack Of Motivation
- Learning Disabilities
- Personality Disorders
- Relational Issues
- School Failure
- Self Esteem Issues
- Social Skills Challenges
- Technology Dependence
What is Residential Treatment?
A Home-Like Setting Designed for Growth and Healing
At Discovery Ranch South's residential program, your child can experience growth and lasting change. Your teen can experience a home-like atmosphere along with the opportunity to take advantage of our large campus and professional staff. They will live in a cottage with a small number of other teens. There are 24-hour professional staff members to help support your child through their therapeutic journey.
Treatment includes traditional individual, group, and family therapy, well as experience-based activities. Each carefully structured activity gives students the opportunity to practice relationship skills in a variety of settings.
In this environment, your child can let go of their unhealthy identity. They will learn that they are more than their diagnosis. They will discover the strong, unique human being that they are inside.
The Purpose of Experiential Therapy
Experiential therapy puts therapy into action. For experiential therapy, students engage in activities designed with specific clinical outcomes in mind. It is more than just filling time. It's creating clinical opportunities out of common–and not-so-common–activities.
Many Discovery Ranch experiential activities have a recreational component to them. Other activities are built around what appears to be ordinary living and working tasks. Each activity provides your student with an opportunity to learn or practice a therapeutic technique vital to future success.
Because these activities occur outside of the office in "real life" situations, teens tend to find these experiences more authentic and meaningful therapeutic sessions in an office setting.
Equine Therapy
Equine therapy is a type of therapy session that uses horses to help teens break down barriers and open up to healing. Horses are social animals that respond well to compassionate, assertive behavior from young people and also have been known to mirror people’s emotions. Working with horses helps teens learn to recognize and regulate their own emotions, develop empathy, and improve problem-solving skills. Equine therapy helps bring issues to the surface faster than traditional talk therapy alone, leading to faster improvement. The memorable nature of the experiences contributes to students’ future successes. As Winston Churchill once said, there is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a person.
Outdoor Adventure Therapy
Discovery Ranch South offers a recreation program that focuses on adventure as a means to augment the therapeutic process and provide exciting opportunities for connection. The program has two phases: Foundations and Advanced Recreation. The Foundations program introduces students to recreation programming through weekly team-building groups and monthly off-campus caseload trips, where they participate in outdoor adventure activities. The Advanced Recreation program is available to students who have earned their Accountability phase and offers 3.5 hours of adventure-specific groups during the week and a full 8-hour day on Saturdays. The program teaches technical details of each discipline and helps students develop skills and passion for adventure activities that can continue to impact their lives long after their time at Discovery Ranch South.
Cow Therapy
Discovery Ranch South offers the opportunity for teenage girls to adopt newborn orphaned dairy calves and care for them until they are four months old. Caring for the vulnerable calves helps the girls develop empathy, responsibility, and love. The program also teaches the girls about hard work, sacrifice, and service, and helps them overcome self-centered attitudes. The experience of letting go of a calf that has reached the age of independence also helps the girls process the experience of loss in a structured and safe environment. The program has been particularly effective for teens who are adopted, as it provides opportunities to work through issues that may stem from their adoption.
Expressive Arts Therapy
At Discovery Ranch South, students have the opportunity to express themselves through art, including visual art, music, and stage performances. The performing arts program provides students with a chance to develop their talents and learn skills such as stage and sound production, theater costumes, and makeup. Students can also perform in various shows and competitions, including a variety show and "Battle of the Bands." The performing arts track is available for students who are primarily interested in the arts and includes advanced art classes such as composing music and writing theatrical productions. Through art, students can discover new interests and talents, which can replace old, unhealthy behaviors and help them adapt to relationships in a positive way.
Parent and Family Involvement With Treatment
Parent participation plays a crucial role in the success of teen therapy. When a teen is in therapy, the family is also in therapy. That’s why we create specific treatment protocols that involve parents and sometimes siblings. There are four ways Discovery Ranch South promotes parent therapy involvement:
Weekly Family Therapy
Every week, each teen and their family participate in a family therapy session with the family’s therapist through telephone or video teleconference. They are scheduled at times that best accommodate the family’s schedule. These sessions are critical to the student’s therapeutic progress and both parents are strongly encouraged to participate.
Parent and Student Visits
Parents are welcome and encouraged to visit Discovery Ranch. Parents can coordinate their visits with their child’s therapist for optimal therapy impact.
Student visits progress from on-campus to off-campus, overnight, and eventually home visits. Visits help parents and students gauge their progress behaviorally and therapeutically. This provides important insights for clinicians.
Parent Seminar
Parent Seminar occurs three times a year, typically in February, June, and October. Parents can visit the Ranch and experience some of the activities that their teenager enjoys. Parents attend seminars designed to help them better understand their teen and the Discovery Ranch program. This gives parents an opportunity to meet our staff and their teen's peers.
Improved Family Relationships
The Discovery Ranch treatment brings parents and students together. With clinical guidance, they can identify and share emotions, as well as resolve conflict. They learn communication and behavioral skills that are fundamental to healthy, happy family relationships.
Online Parent Portal
Discovery Ranch South helps parents stay connected to their child's progress through a password-secured website. The Parent Portal lets parents review their teen’s academic progress, clinical information, and residential reports. They can also access pictures of their teen participating in special events and daily activities at the Ranch. This information is available only to the parents of each student, not to the Discovery Ranch community as a whole. Parents are encouraged to send questions or comments to the Discovery Ranch staff through the parent portal.
Marks of Quality Care
We are committed to the highest quality of well-researched clinical and medical practices, ensured by the following organizations:
Our research & outcomes show teens can live a life free from mental health issues
75%
75% of students report they are more comfortable sharing feelings with their parents.
75% of students & parents report significantly better family functioning
90%
90% of parents report teen is much better compared to the beginning of treatment
96%
96% of both parents and students showed consistent improvement on problem behavior (Y-OQ) and emotional problems tests (BPFS-C)
100%
100% of students report their problems are much better than when they began
100%
Six months after graduation, 100% of parents and students say that their problems are much better than when they began