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Are you searching for a therapeutic boarding school for your daughter? Is she struggling with anxiety, depression, defiance, or school refusal?
Turning Winds offers a compassionate, accredited, safe, structured, and supportive environment where real emotional and behavioral healing begins—and futures are restored.
No pressure. Just clarity, support and hope
Turning Winds is a therapeutic boarding school for girls ages 13–18 who are struggling with emotional, behavioral, or mental health challenges.
We combine licensed therapy, academic restoration, and outdoor experiential learning in a safe, structured setting,
helping girls heal, grow, and rebuild their lives.
Knowing that Turning Winds was fully accredited gave us so much peace of mind. Our son wasn't just healing emotionally — he was staying on track academically and earning real credits that mattered for his future.
Turning Winds offers: Therapeutic boarding school program combining academic excellence with comprehensive mental health treatment for girls struggling with emotional and behavioral challenges.
Program highlights:
Today’s teen girls are growing up in a world that demands more—and gives them less.
Between social media pressure, academic expectations, identity confusion, and a flood of unrealistic standards, many girls feel like they’re constantly failing at being “enough.”
For some, that pressure turns inward—into anxiety, depression, or self-harm.
For others, it becomes defiance, anger, or emotional shutdown.
It’s not just mood swings. It’s not just “teen angst.” It’s pain—and too often, it’s untreated.
Many parents notice these changes long before they know what to call them.
These are the patterns we hear about most often—subtle at first, but impossible to ignore over time.
Is your daughter showing these warning signs?
Your daughter isn’t broken—she’s overwhelmed.
What she needs is the right environment to reset, rebuild, and rise.
You are not alone. Read on to see why so many families trust Turning Winds.
Parents searching for a “reform school for girls” are often looking for structure and accountability for their daughter.
While Turning Winds provides both, our approach fundamentally differs from traditional reform or disciplinary schools.
Rather than focusing solely on behavior modification through consequences, we address the underlying emotional and psychological factors contributing to your daughter’s struggles.
Is your daughter out of control? Get help today, call now to speak with an admissions counselor.
Parents don’t choose Turning Winds lightly. They come to us after exhausting options.
After therapy sessions that didn’t go far enough. After school suspensions, emotional breakdowns, or moments of helplessness that no parent ever imagines facing.
They come to us when their daughter’s behavior feels ‘out of control’ and they’ve run out of options.
What they find here isn’t just a school. It’s a place where healing begins, structure returns, and their daughter starts to become herself again.
At Turning Winds, we combine the clinical depth of a residential treatment center with the structure of a therapeutic boarding school—and the breakthroughs of outdoor experiential therapy. It’s all integrated, in one consistent, compassionate environment.
McKae, a mom whose daughter attended Turning Winds, shares how the program’s whole-person approach—including therapy, nature, and academics—helped restore her child’s hope.
One of the things that really resonated with me is that they advertised an approach to like the whole person. You know, it’s not just therapy, it’s about being outside and being around nature and exercising.
Communication and academics, you know, it was like the whole package instead of, oh, we’re just gonna sit in a circle and talk about our feelings all day and then go back to our room.
The facility was incredible. I liked how it was set up, with separate areas for the girls and the boys, and then overlooking this incredible meadow.
I mean, it was just something out of a Jack London novel. Could possibly be, well, no, there are wolves too, so I won’t say with fewer wolves, but I mean just even the nature and the accessibility of it, it was incredible.
Watch McKae’s video testimonial: What Happens When Hope Seems Lost? A mom’s real story.
(This transcript was edited for readability)
We were very happy with Julia’s progress when we had our visit with her the end of February. What a change and all for the good! It was heartening to see a smile on her face, and just for the record, she went out of her way to tell me that she felt TWAI was ‘her home’ — not anything like an institution.
Turning Winds is known as a leading therapeutic boarding school for struggling teens, but we are so much more. Over the past twenty years, the landscape of teen mental health care has evolved—and so have we. Today, we are proud to be one of the most trusted and successful residential treatment programs for adolescents, combining clinical excellence, academic restoration, and holistic healing.
Our Five Pillars of Whole Healing form the foundation of everything we do. Unlike traditional programs, Turning Winds offers a unique hybrid approach that sees your child as a whole person—mind, body and spirit, thereby addressing your teen’s challenges holistically.
Beyond academics and rehabilitation, our hybrid model of care combines clinical care, academics, family support, and personal growth into a holistic experience that encompasses the mental, emotional, physical, and social well-being of our clients.
These pillars work together to deliver personalized, lasting transformation for every teen who walks through our doors.
"Turning Winds gave us our daughter back — stronger, happier, and filled with hope."
Licensed therapists and psychiatric professionals provide evidence-based therapy (CBT, DBT, trauma-informed care) and support for co-occurring disorders like anxiety, depression, and substance use.
With small class sizes and accredited academics, girls catch up, rebuild confidence, and rediscover the joy of learning. Many earn two years of credit in just one year.
Nature is a powerful healer. Girls hike, ski, mountain bike, and engage in outdoor therapy that strengthens self-esteem, emotional regulation, and resilience.
We don’t just treat the teen—we involve the whole family. Through family therapy, parent coaching, and consistent communication, healing begins at home, too.
Girls develop emotional intelligence, personal responsibility, time management, and social confidence—skills they’ll need not just now, but for life.
Some parents ask why we don’t separate boys and girls. Here’s why:
In real life, your daughter will need to navigate friendships, boundaries, and social interactions in healthy ways. Our co-ed model prepares her for that—with structure, supervision, and therapeutic support built in. She’ll learn how to connect with others while honoring her voice and values.
Turning Winds is known as a leading therapeutic boarding school for struggling teens, but we are so much more.
Over the past twenty years, the landscape of teen mental health care has evolved—and so have we.
Today, we are proud to be one of the most trusted and successful residential treatment programs for adolescents, combining clinical excellence, academic restoration, and holistic healing.
Our Five Pillars of Whole Healing form the foundation of everything we do.
Unlike traditional programs, Turning Winds offers a unique hybrid approach that sees your child as a whole person—mind, body and spirit, thereby addressing your teen’s challenges holistically.
Beyond academics and rehabilitation, our hybrid model of care combines clinical care, academics, family support, and personal growth into a holistic experience that encompasses the mental, emotional, physical, and social well-being of our clients.
These pillars work together to deliver personalized, lasting transformation for every teen who walks through our doors.
Licensed therapists and psychiatric professionals provide evidence-based therapy (CBT, DBT, trauma-informed care) and support for co-occurring disorders like anxiety, depression, and substance use.
With small class sizes and accredited academics, girls catch up, rebuild confidence, and rediscover the joy of learning. Many earn two years of credit in just one year.
Nature is a powerful healer. Girls hike, ski, mountain bike, and engage in outdoor therapy that strengthens self-esteem, emotional regulation, and resilience.
We don’t just treat the teen—we involve the whole family. Through family therapy, parent coaching, and consistent communication, healing begins at home, too.
Girls develop emotional intelligence, personal responsibility, time management, and social confidence—skills they’ll need not just now, but for life.
Some parents ask why we don’t separate boys and girls. Here’s why:
In real life, your daughter will need to navigate friendships, boundaries, and social interactions in healthy ways.
Our co-ed model prepares her for that—with structure, supervision, and therapeutic support built in. She’ll learn how to connect with others while honoring her voice and values.
When your daughter struggles, the whole family feels the weight of it.
You’re not alone, and there is a proven path to healing. Turning Winds is here to guide her back to confidence, joy, and success.
At Turning Winds, we understand that emotional healing and academic success aren’t separate—they’re deeply connected.
When a teen girl feels emotionally safe and supported, she can re-engage with her education. And when she starts to achieve again in school, her confidence grows.
That’s why we combine therapeutic excellence with accredited academics in a single, integrated, and structured environment.
Our clinicians use evidence-based methods, including:
Therapy happens daily—not once a week. And it’s woven into every interaction, not siloed into office time. Therapeutic Support That Gets to the Root!
This isn’t a short-term fix. Turning Winds is built to create lasting, measurable change.
At Turning Winds, outdoor adventure therapy isn’t a supplement—it’s part of our core.
Whether it’s mountain biking, hiking, camping, fishing, or skiing, our students participate in carefully designed outdoor experiences that help them:
“I saw her smile in a photo for the first time in months—she was hiking with her group, proud of herself. That’s when I knew she was coming back to life.”
— TW Parent
We help girls learn to:
Beyond recovery, we build strength, resilience, and hope. At Turning Winds, they gain:
Turning Winds is a therapeutic boarding school for “troubled” girls who are struggling with emotional, behavioral, or mental health challenges, including anxiety, depression, and other behavioral heath concerns.
We provide licensed therapy, structured academic support, and outdoor experiential learning to help girls heal, rebuild confidence, and thrive in a safe, supportive environment.
Think of it this way: a therapeutic boarding school works with your daughter’s heart and mind, while a reform school works on her behavior through discipline.
At Turning Winds, we’re not looking to “fix” your daughter—because she’s not broken. We’re here to understand why she’s struggling and give her the tools to heal from within. Our licensed therapists work alongside her, not against her. We use evidence-based therapy, not fear or intimidation.
Reform schools often use consequences to change behavior. We help your daughter understand herself, build healthy coping skills, and develop the confidence to make better choices on her own. It’s the difference between wearing a cast for a broken arm and getting physical therapy to strengthen it completely.
Yes. At Turning Winds, we take a very different approach than disciplinary or military-style programs.
Unlike reform schools or disciplianry schools, we don’t punish, isolate, or break teens down.
Instead, we guide them through evidence-based therapy, support them within a nurturing environment, and help rebuild their self-esteem and healthy coping skills.
Our program is centered around therapeutic connection, clinical excellence, and emotional growth—never fear or force.
At Turning Winds, healing begins with trust, compassion, and real human connection.
Families reach out to Turning Winds when their teen’s emotional pain and behavioral struggles have become too heavy to manage alone.
Others come to us after traditional treatments, such as therapy, hospitalizations, or short-term programs, have fallen short of creating lasting change.
We encourage parents not to wait until their teen is in full crisis. Early intervention can make all the difference.
At Turning Winds, we help teens overcome a wide range of emotional and behavioral challenges, including:
Defiance, oppositional behavior, emotional outbursts, or emotional shutdowns
School refusal, academic struggles, or failure to thrive academically
Substance use, experimentation, or social withdrawal
Low self-worth, low self-esteem, and patterns of risky behaviors
Anxiety-driven avoidance, depression-related isolation, or mood instability
Family conflict, strained relationships, or difficulty with authority figures
Technology addiction, gaming overuse, or unhealthy internet use
Difficulty managing anger, frustration, or impulsivity
Every teen’s journey is different.
At Turning Winds, we look beyond surface behaviors and emotional pain to understand the root causes of emotional pain.
We help rebuild resilience, restore self-worth, and guide each teen back toward hope, connection, and long-term success.
At Turning Winds, we believe healing happens within the family—not just the individual. That’s why family involvement is woven into every step of treatment. Parents and caregivers participate in regular family therapy sessions (by phone or video), where they work alongside their teen and therapist to rebuild trust, improve communication, and strengthen relationships. We also provide parent coaching, educational resources, and guided assignments to help families create a healthier home environment.
Throughout the program, families stay connected with their teen’s progress through updates from their clinical team, and many choose to attend on-campus family workshops or visits. Our goal is to help the entire family grow together—so when their daughter returns home, they’re equipped to support her long-term success.
Graduating from Turning Winds is a major milestone—and it’s just the beginning of the next chapter. About 2–3 months before a teen completes our program, we begin working closely with the family to create a personalized transition plan tailored to her needs and goals. This might include returning home with structured supports in place, continuing care with outpatient therapy (OP), or enrolling in a step-down program such as an intensive outpatient program (IOP), or a therapeutic day school.
We also help families navigate the reintegration process, offering guidance on setting healthy boundaries, maintaining progress, and building on the skills their daughter developed here.
Our family support continues for up to 6 months post-graduation, providing check-ins and resources to ease the adjustment and help prevent setbacks.
Research shows that teens who follow a structured transition plan have an 85% success rate in maintaining behavioral and emotional improvements in the first year after treatment.
Our goal is to ensure every teen leaves Turning Winds not only stronger and more resilient, but with a clear path forward—and a family ready to walk alongside her.
At Turning Winds, we understand that academic struggles and behavioral challenges often go hand-in-hand—which is why our academic program is designed to support both.
Each teen receives an individualized academic plan tailored to her learning needs, strengths, and goals. Our small class sizes and 4:1 student-to-staff ratio allow us to provide personalized instruction, while also integrating therapeutic support into the school day.
Licensed teachers work alongside therapists to ensure academic expectations are balanced with emotional readiness, helping students build confidence, improve executive functioning, and experience success at their own pace.
Many of our students not only catch up on credits but rediscover a love of learning. We want to help every teen return to their next educational environment stronger, academically, emotionally, and socially prepared.
At Turning Winds, we understand that teen girls rarely face just one challenge—their struggles often overlap and fuel each other. We treat teens with complex combinations of mental health disorders, including:
Common Co-occurring Conditions:
What makes us different is our ability to treat the whole picture. Our clinical team—including psychologists, therapists, and psychiatrists—works together to understand how these conditions interact and impact your daughter’s daily life.
We don’t just address symptoms separately. We help your daughter build skills that work across all her challenges: managing emotions, building self-esteem, improving relationships, and developing healthy coping strategies.
Many girls arrive with multiple diagnoses or undiagnosed conditions that have been missed. Our comprehensive assessment helps us see the full scope of what she’s facing, so we can create a treatment plan that addresses everything holding her back.
No, you’re not. The fact that you are asking this question indicates that you’re precisely the opposite.
Good parents recognize when they’ve reached the limits of what they can provide at home. Bad parents ignore their child’s pain or pretend everything’s fine when it’s not.
We understand this is a difficult decision; it is normal to hesitate or vacillate at this point. You are a good parent!
You’ve probably tried everything else first—therapy, medication, family counseling, changing schools, tighter rules, looser rules. Now you’re considering the hardest option because your daughter needs more.
Thousands of loving parents have felt exactly what you’re feeling right now. They’ve chosen residential treatment not as a failure, but as a lifeline. Many later say it saved their child’s life—and their family.
Your daughter needs healing, not blame. And neither do you.
No. It’s never too late.
We’ve seen girls at their lowest points—after suicide attempts, after years of addiction, after running away multiple times. We’ve worked with teens who haven’t smiled in months, who haven’t been to school in years.
The teenage brain is remarkably resilient. At 13, 15, or 17, your daughter’s capacity for change is immense. What feels like an endless spiral can actually be the start of her turning point.
But here’s what we know: it’s never too early, either. The earlier you intervene, the more you prevent. Every day of untreated mental health challenges makes them harder to unravel.
Your daughter has her whole life ahead of her. At Turning Winds, we’ve witnessed teenagers go from crisis to thriving faster than their parents ever imagined possible.
Maybe. But probably not.
When teens promise to “be better” or “never do it again” to avoid treatment, it often comes from genuine fear—not manipulation. She’s scared of the unknown, of admitting she needs help, of losing control.
But here’s the truth: if your daughter had the ability to consistently make better choices, she would have by now. Teenagers rarely choose emotional chaos and family conflict.
Real manipulation has a pattern: it works. If your daughter’s behavior consistently gets worse despite her promises, if the good periods get shorter and the difficult ones longer, that’s not manipulation—that’s a cry for help she doesn’t know how to articulate.
Your intuition matters here. What does your gut tell you after months or years of trying?
No, your daughter won’t fall behind. In fact, she’ll likely get ahead.
Academic success is a key part of the healing journey at Turning Winds. Many of our students arrive behind due to school refusal, academic struggles, or absenteeism. Through our fully accredited academic program with class sizes of 4-6 students, they not only catch up—they often surpass their peers.
Our students typically earn up to two years of high school credit in just one year, rebuilding confidence and opening doors to new opportunities. All credits transfer seamlessly to her home school or future academic programs.
At Turning Winds, clinical excellence and academic growth go hand in hand, helping teens heal emotionally while preparing for a brighter future.
At Turning Winds, we believe true healing happens beyond four walls.
Our 150-acre Montana campus is designed to integrate outdoor recreation and experiential learning into every part of your teen’s therapeutic journey.
Here’s what students experience:
Equine therapy that builds emotional connection and trust
Hiking, skiing, snowboarding, kayaking, and boating adventures
Basketball and volleyball courts; soccer and baseball fields
Organized team sports that foster resilience, leadership, and a sense of belonging
Wilderness excursions and adventure challenges are fully integrated into therapy
Activities help teens develop emotional regulation, teamwork, and lasting personal confidence
Qualified students may participate in international service and leadership trips
Experiences that broaden worldviews and build a deeper sense of purpose and global responsibility
At Turning Winds, outdoor recreation isn’t just an activity.
It’s a powerful catalyst for emotional healing, academic growth, and lifelong transformation.
Yes, Turning Winds provides expert care for teens facing a variety of mental health, learning, and medical challenges, including:
Attachment disorders and challenges forming healthy relationships
Anxiety disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Depression and other mood disorders
ADHD (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder), NLD/NVLD (Nonverbal Learning Disorder), ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder), and other learning differences
Substance use, gaming addiction, and other behavioral addictions
Medically complex teens requiring coordinated mental health and physical health support
Our multidisciplinary team ensures that each teen’s therapeutic, academic, and medical needs are addressed holistically.
We create an integrated environment where healing, learning, and growth happen together, helping teens reclaim their health, confidence, and future.
Yes, Turning Winds works with many major health insurance providers to help families offset the cost of treatment.
Our admissions team can verify your insurance benefits, explain what services may be covered, and help you understand your financial options.
Coverage typically depends on your individual plan, the clinical needs of your teen, and whether residential mental health treatment is authorized. We’re here to guide you through the process and answer all your questions.
To find out if your insurance covers treatment at Turning Winds, contact us for a free insurance verification.
Every teen’s treatment needs are unique, so our program length varies based on individual progress and goals.
Typical Length of Stay:
Your daughter’s actual length of stay depends on:
We don’t rush healing. Research shows that sustainable change in teen girls typically requires at least 12 months of immersive therapeutic work. Shorter stays often lead to rapid regression once the teen returns home.
However, we also recognize the financial and emotional impact on families. Our clinical team carefully balances thoroughness with practicality, ensuring your daughter gets the treatment she needs without unnecessary extension.
Every 90 days, we meet with your family to review progress and adjust the treatment timeline as needed.
We’re neither just a therapeutic facility nor just a school—we’re an integrated healing environment where therapy, academics, and real-life skills merge seamlessly.
Our Unique Integration:
Our Specialized Focus:
Our Approach to Girls:
Our Location Advantage:
Other schools treat symptoms. Other programs focus on behavior. We treat the whole person—and transform the whole family.
Contact us online for more information, or call us at 800-845-1380. If your call isn’t answered in person, someone will get back to you as soon as possible.
Turning Winds has helped more than 2,000 families rebuild trust, safety, and connection. If your daughter is in crisis—or heading there—you don’t have to wait.
Our mission is to achieve positive change in this world and reach young men and women at a time early enough in their lives to create a profoundly different outcome. We hope that you will allow us to play a small part in getting your teen and family the help that is needed. Together we can make a difference in the life of your child.
Our mission is to rescue teens from crisis, renew their belief in their own potential and reunite them with their family and a sustainable path of success.
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31733 S Fork Yaak Rd Troy, MT 59935
Phone: 800-845-1380
International: 208-267-1500
Fax: 888-892-4568
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