Discover the Path to Healing at Discovery Ranch South

We value physical, emotional, social, environmental, mental and spiritual health. Health is the essence of a happy and fulfilling life. Achieving and maintaining health is a deliberate choice. Embracing health as a core value permeates our actions. Striving for health is the responsibility of the individual and their community.

When our lives are in chaos, we may feel that our choices are limited and out of reach. Our sense of limited choice is a result of controllable factors such as attitude, preparation, and effort. Letting go of what we can't control and focusing on what we can is empowering. We believe that hope, passion, and perseverance determine our outcomes. We believe in empowering all individuals to regain a sense of choice in their lives. We believe in the value of free choice and building a life worth living that creates choices and autonomy.

It is important to recognize in ourselves and others that we are doing the best we can and we can do better. The essence of balance is acknowledging the areas where we are strong and gifted while pursuing the areas in which we are weak. The concept of balance is universal. Problems arise when we are physically, emotionally, interpersonally, or spiritually out of balance. Balance is finding the middle path. We believe in balancing change and validation strategies in the treatment process. We strive in ourselves and encourage in others the balance of self-acceptance and continued growth.

Our highest ideal is interdependence. Developing rewarding and healthy relationships prepares teenagers to flourish and live interdependently in the world. Increasing that sense of community connection throughout their experience helps them appreciate the strength and fulfillment they can draw from any community, big or small, and the impact they have in return.

No other factor influences children as broadly or deeply as their families. The family can foster the child's growth, development, health, and well-being. Coming together with teenagers and their families creates a system that works collectively toward healing. We believe parents should be the primary caregivers of their children, and our ultimate goal is for students to return to their families and be part of that loving and nurturing relationship.

Service is about looking outside ourselves and contributing to the happiness and well-being of others, with no expectation of gaining something in return. Consistent service helps young people cultivate an awareness of others and an internal desire to give. Through repetition, and a growing sense of self-worth and satisfaction, this internal desire becomes part of the routine of their lives.

Many approaches are good, but few are excellent. Our approach is based only on methods backed by scholarly research and proven concrete results. At the same time, we remain true to time-tested traditions and values, and embrace the importance of challenges and hard work in providing effective treatment. The result is an approach that is simultaneously sophisticated and traditional. We strive to provide the highest level of customer care, but not at the expense of sound care.

Integrity means not just being trustworthy, but being strong and complete. We refer to the integrity of a building as to whether it will stand, and the integrity of a ship as to whether it will float. Focusing on integrity means more than simply striving for honorable, trustworthy behavior. It emphasizes the completeness of the individual and becoming a person of honor and trustworthiness. We strive to be straightforward and honest in all our relationships while addressing the complete health and wholeness of our students and their families, recognizing and respecting their diverse identities and experiences.

Recent research confirms an old truth: success in life is often less about one's intellectual or physical gifts, and more about the ability to stay on course in the face of life's challenges and adversity - in short, to persevere. In order to build perseverance, teenagers need challenging opportunities and even disappointments through which to develop that habit. We embrace the adventure and ups and downs of life. The balance of nurturing relationships and challenging experiences provide students with opportunities to develop perseverance while under the guidance of a caring treatment team. This provides support for them as they discover they can move away from seeing themselves as fragile to becoming strong and capable, regardless of their gender identity or assigned sex at birth. We are not just a refuge from the storm, but a place where teens learn to walk purposefully through the rain, honoring and validating their unique journeys.

Discovery Ranch South conceptualizes treatment for teen girls and adolescents assigned female at birth from the perspective of fluid therapy. Discovery Ranch South does not recapitulate ineffective outpatient therapies in our experiential dynamic environment. The concept of Fluidity takes place in the role of teen treatment at Discovery Ranch South. Therapeutic fluidity is creating and maintaining an effective therapeutic environment that is reshaping the individual needs of each person. Therapy is continuous. Therapy is dynamic. Therapy is experiential. Therapy is interpersonal. Therapy is individualized. Therapy is treatment team driven. Therapy is woven into the day-to-day fabric of each person's life at Discovery Ranch South, respecting their identities and experiences. We conceptualize every waking hour and every member of the team as a therapeutic catalyst for each person's healing journey, recognizing and affirming their diverse identities and experiences.