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Call (866) 845-1391 to learn more about Aspen's programs for children, teens, and young adults.

Aspen Ranch's Equine Therapy program is founded on the principle that, through working with horses, students can learn life skills that initiate change. Equine Therapy combines the power of the horse with effective teaching philosophies, experiential learning, therapy, and discussion groups, to be the ultimate horse program.

Equine Therapy

The ranch is home to approximately 35 horses and 5 steers who are all employed in providing therapy and experiential learning to our students. Besides these wonderful animals, Aspen Ranch also boasts our 225' x 110' indoor riding arena, enabling the horse therapy program to be fully functional regardless of weather.

If you are concerned about your teen's future call (866) 845-1391 today. We can help.

SUWS - Over 25 Years of Successfully Helping Families

Since 1981, SUWS has been giving children and their families hope for a positive and productive future. SUWS wilderness programs specialize in providing a safe and therapeutic environment that allows troubled and defiant teens to identify and work through emotional obstacles. Combing the wilderness environment with experiential learning helps students learn to value themselves, access their own abilities and build upon their strengths.

SUWS

If you are concerned about your teen's future call (866) 845-1391 today. We can help.

Five Steps to Rebuilding Trust Between Parents and Teens

Slamming doors, screaming voices, sulking faces - what does broken trust look like in your home? For many, it's an ongoing cycle - the teen lies, breaks curfew, experiments with drugs, or gets into trouble at school. The parents respond with guilt trips, threats to take away privileges, and violations of their child's privacy. Both sides feel trust has been broken beyond repair.

Trust is a fundamental building block of parent-child relationships, especially as children develop into teenagers. "In general, trust is broken when a parent or teen acts in a way that doesn't meet the other's expectations," explains PJ Swan, LPC, Director of Family Services at SageWalk The Wilderness School. "Both parents and teens break the other's trust when they engage in outbursts or temper tantrums, guilt trips, or threats of any kind. Parents lose their child's trust when they fail to set and enforce limits and when they resort to snooping or spying to learn about their child's life."

Trust is a two-way street. In order to gain their parents' trust, teens have to demonstrate a pattern of trustworthy behavior. Every time a child follows a rule or meets their parent's expectation, the baseline trust and respect expand. "The key is remembering trust builds slowly and can be broken down easily," Swan advises. "For every five times you do the right thing, it only takes one poor decision to undo the trust you've built."

Just as every child wants to be trusted, every parent needs to earn their child's trust. A parent builds trust every time he treats others with respect, follows through on a commitment or promise, or stands firm in setting and enforcing boundaries. "This doesn't necessarily mean your children will 'like' you or treat you like a friend," Swan warns. "But trust has little to do with how much we like someone or their decisions. Rather, it is the firm belief in the honesty and reliability of another person. That's what being a parent is all about - giving a child what they need, not necessarily what they want."

With years of experience working with families, PJ Swan has put together the following steps parents can take to rebuild trust after it has been broken.

Continue reading to learn about the Five Steps to Rebuilding Trust >>

Working Summers:
Helping Teenagers Find Their Niche
By Catherine H. Knott, Ph.D.

Chris, 15, is spending her summer babysitting a couple of spoiled preschoolers. She hates it and wishes she could go to camp like her friends. But her single parent cannot afford it, and Chris likes to spend the money she earns on movies and extra clothes and things her mother does not know about.

Tom is 16, working at McDonald's, and is bored out of his mind. But he likes socializing with the other teens at work and their friends who hang out in front. They got him high on pot the first day of work - his first time trying the drug.

Donald is 17 and working in construction. He is learning a useful skill, but he is careful not to repeat at home the raunchy stories and bad language the older men share on the job. These are all true stories, although names have been changed.

Those first summer jobs are more important than many parents think. Too often, parents dismiss these efforts as just "something to do" for the summer, bringing in little money, and not using skills more advanced than flipping burgers. But for teenagers, first jobs are eye-opening experiences with the real adult world, often setting the tone for their developing work ethic and future job opportunities. Therefore, it behooves parents to pay close attention to these first experiences, both in helping their teenagers choose appropriate work and in assessing the work environment. It may turn out that the job takes place in a problematic environment or provides little support for addressing problems or conflicts with other employees or supervisors.

In these cases, young workers need support and counsel from home or perhaps help knowing when to quit and look for a different job. Since caring parents hope their teenagers will not have to leave a job prematurely, it is much easier to help on the front end with a proactive assessment of the job opportunity. This essay provides suggestions for helping teenagers choose jobs for the summer, as well as some suggestions for how to support teenagers in the jobs they have chosen once they have begun working.

Learn how to help your child choose the best job opportunity and how to support your working teenager >>

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