Parenting Newsletter Aspen Education Group

In this issue:
Five Ways to Keep Your Teens Busy During Winter Break

Wild Teens, Wild Horses: Troubled Teens Get a Fresh Start by Taming Mustangs

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

Aspen Ranch is a licensed residential treatment center located in Loa, Utah. The Ranch's nationally renowned equine therapy program is just one part of an intensive therapeutic milieu that facilitates positive change in troubled teens. The strong work ethic inherent on the Ranch is fundamental to cultivating the characteristics of responsibility, discipline, respect and teamwork.

Turn-About Ranch is a place where old-time values such as hard work, honesty, respect, teamwork and accountability are the standard. Teens thrive in the unique environment of this spirited working cow-and-horse ranch. The objective of Turn-About Ranch is to provide a hard-hitting, high-impact therapeutic program that will remold and turn around the lives of rebellious teens.

Winter is a great time to enroll your teen in a wilderness program!

Phoenix Outdoor is a licensed wilderness-based substance abuse and chemical dependency treatment program for teenagers ages 13-17.

SUWS of the Carolinas is a therapeutic wilderness program that uses the outdoors as an alternative to conventional treatment environments, while engaging students using traditional therapeutic methods.

Adirondack Leadership Expeditions is a character development wilderness program that promotes personal growth through focused experiences. The forested, mountain setting removes urban distractions to allow students room to gain insight into their core values and accept responsibility for their choices.

Aspen Achievement Academy is a flexible length of stay program for adolescents 13-17, with over two decades of history in providing high impact treatment to teens and their families. As a clinically based program, Aspen Achievement Academy is contracted with a number of insurance companies and EAPs to provide treatment for mental health and substance abuse.

Five Ways to Keep Your Teens Busy During Winter Break

Teenagers everywhere are anxiously awaiting a break from the daily grind of school, homework and tests. But going into winter break without a plan vastly increases the chances that your teens will use their free time to get into trouble.

Keep Your Teens Busy During Winter Break

Here are a few ways your teens can make productive use of their winter vacation:

Earn Spending Money. Although winter break isn't long enough to get a "real" job, many teens make a little extra spending money by babysitting, shoveling snow off driveways or helping others clean house after the holidays. These odd jobs will keep your teens occupied and make them less dependent on you for all of their expenses without making winter break one big chore.

Volunteer. There's no time like the holidays to give back to those in need. Local soup kitchens, churches, food banks and hospitals are always in need of a helping hand. Your teens can also get involved with a toy drive or adopt-a-family-in-need program, or raise money for a cause close to their heart.

Get Organized. In the past few months, hectic schedules and school stress have probably contributed to your teens' room looking more like a jungle than a study area. As new gifts come in with the holidays, encourage your teens to donate the clothes, books and other belongings they no longer use. A thorough reorganization and cleaning will help ensure the next semester gets off to a good start.

Spend Time as a Family. The holidays are a busy time for everyone, but they're also an ideal time for family bonding. Schedule family game night, movie night or an evening of games in the park, and make sure everyone makes it a priority to be there. If your extended family lives nearby, winter break provides a rare opportunity for your teens to get to know their grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins a little better.

Wild Teens, Wild Horses: Troubled Teens Get a Fresh Start by Taming Mustangs

It takes a lot of patience and hard work to train a mustang. Just ask the students at Aspen Ranch, a residential treatment center for teens in Loa, Utah, that helps adolescents learn emotional regulation and communication skills by training these powerful animals.

In addition to a riding herd and an equine hospice program for teens struggling with grief and loss issues, Aspen Ranch houses a herd of mustangs. Adopted from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the mustangs come to the ranch "as wild as the Texas wind," says Brandon Burr, LCSW, the clinical director at Aspen Ranch. The horses have never been haltered, saddled or led, and present a real challenge for even the most experienced horse trainer.

Stubborn Teens, Stubborn Horses

Mustangs - free-roaming feral horses that are managed by the BLM - have been used therapeutically with prisoners in correctional facilities to teach them patience and empathy. Training these young, wild horses also has tremendous therapeutic value for defiant, aggressive and rebellious teens. Whereas teens tend to become withdrawn and non-communicative in traditional talk therapy, equine therapy encourages teens to let down their guard and open up.

"The mustang program pairs hard-headed teens with hard-headed horses," says Kevin Knutson, LPC, NCC, ECP-B, the executive director at Aspen Ranch. "The students train the mustangs to be ridden, and the mustangs teach the teens self-discipline, patience and the benefits of approaching others with a softer, more gentle approach."

Read more about the benefits of equine therapy >>

How to Help Your Depressed Teen

Many people do not take the problem of teenage depression seriously. In fact, many people do not even believe that teenagers can actually get depressed.

This conflict stems from the fact that the majority of adults do not understand what teenage depression is. The reality is that it is much more than a sullen mood and bouts of sadness. It is an actual medical condition that can have devastating, permanent effects on a teenager's life.

Defining Teenage Depression

Depression is a mental illness that can occur in teenagers in much the same way that it manifests itself in adults. A significant difference is that teens are dependent on their parents or other caregivers to provide the medical attention they need, whereas adults are free to go to the doctor on their own.

In many cases, parents or other adults fail to acknowledge the fact that teenagers can, and do, get depressed. They tend to write off the moody, sullen teenager as acting out or one who is simply unhappy about something.

Learn more about ways to help your depressed child >>

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