Learning to Live

Turning Winds fosters a therapeutic residential treatment environment modeling functional family communion to help adolescents achieve better mental health and establish beliefs that support long-term stability and personal success. Turning Winds team members are selected for their skills, talent for authentic connection, and ability to model personal fulfillment and familial belonging. Longer-than-average durations of stay enable deeper and more accurate assessment of underlying issues and authentic disposition and support the adoption of learned skills and ideas. Its remoteness protects young people from potentially harmful environmental factors, increases focus, and supports the development of beneficial relationships and authentic identity. The program operates from the premise that helping young people struggling with substance use and mental health disorders often means teaching them how to discern the important from the superfluous aspects of life and to redefine one’s definition of personal success. 

The Turning Winds program addresses one of the most pressing issues of our time — historic rates of dysphoria and mental health disorders among young people. Stressors including the threat of school violence, family separation, financial pressures and debt, political angst, eco-anxiety, school performance pressures, and other real and perceived threats are making it harder for young people to feel safe. Omnipresent electronic devices and social media make it difficult to avoid negative headlines, bullying, and the artificial realities of curated lifestyles. Turning Winds provides a therapeutic respite from a dysfunctional cultural experience, reconnection with core human values, and the holistic education and therapeutic alliance needed to perceive and practice intentional living. 

Turning Winds represents a critical resource for adolescents, families, and communities. The program’s therapeutic work and its ability to help individuals become healthier, happier people, family members, and community members yield far-reaching personal and societal benefits. While other programs offer similar combinations of clinical, academic, and experiential services, Turning Winds uses comparatively long treatment durations, specialized milieu, and experiential programming to deepen the effectiveness of care. The program’s holistic approach, relational focus, and emphasis on achieving authentic client openness make Turning Winds especially effective at facilitating positive outcomes and long-term change. 

Here, in our comfortable setting, and with the help of experienced and caring professionals along with the support of collegial peers, adolescents learn to believe more in the power of themselves and human connection over the pleasures of possessions.  They develop a sincere appreciation for the natural world and gain a meaningful distance from the pace and pretense of today’s world.  The young people who come to Turning Winds become part of an extended family whose values of respect, trust, and love facilitate the development of emotional maturity and skills that fuel a sense of accomplishment and purpose.  

We invite you to further explore the uniqueness of the Turing Winds treatment program.  As you embark upon this new journey, know that you are not alone and together we can make a difference in your teen’s life.